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The third album, Punishment For Decadence, by Switzerland's Coroner is arguably the band's peak in song writing and technicality, which doesn't prevent it from having classic hardcore punk inspired fast snare beats, as in the opening track, one of the best on this almost flawless album. It is a maze of riffs and beats without losing it's aggressiveness, it is as if Rust In Peace era Megadeth decided to get even more technical and lyrically more in tune with their first album. For those who wish Megadeth could've offered a much tidier and technical discography, doing something that was logical as a follow-up to Rust In Peace, Coroner is the band you need check out, as the band is one of the few thrash bands always seen referred to as as Tech-Thrash. The drumming is head spinning, the guitar and bass are extremely intricate but without getting into a masturbatory celebration of their skills, like what Dream Theatre did to a lot of 90's "metalheads" who were only into the music because it was 10 min solos and no sense of songwriting, Coroner does not do that. There are even choruses you can remember, not normally something "prog metal" bands can claim. The vocalist/bassist is intelligible, elite, and very much in the vein of classic thrash bands like Slayer and Metallica. The album is filled with absolutely insane timings, tempo changes and dizzying rhythms. Soloing is in the upper tier of thrash soloing too. Without a doubt, Punishment... is one of the band's finest moments along with 1990's "No More Color." The 2022 Brutal Planet Records remaster comes on a Gold Disc for the first time ever, is packaged in a jewel case, and each CD includes a free Gold-Foil stamped collector card!
Coroner