Lethal - Poison Seed [1996]

If there was one band that I surely thought would never turn into a groove abomination, it would have been progressive US power metal band Lethal. Programmed wasn't a first class album of the genre, but it was an enjoyable experience and a worthwhile addition nonetheless. I can only guess as to what happened between 1990 and 1996, but let me take a shot: the US power metal genre was pretty much dead, so no record company probably wanted to take chances there. The band must have then briefly turned to thrash, only to realize that genre was waning, too. The only logical move left to make was turning into another groove outfit typical in this time of musical downturn. In other words, by 1996, Lethal barely resembled the band playing six years before. All that would have been okay if Poison Seed was good. It's not.

If one thing has stayed just about same compared to Programmed, it's Tom Mallicoat's vocal performance, though even it has suffered in some ways. What once used to be a top notch Geoff Tate clone (which, yes, is a compliment) has turned to a rather weak, lower-pitched approah. It's not really that bad; I mean, at least he's not doing Anselmo impressions. Where the album really fails is in its putrid songwriting. I'm honestly not sure whether the groove oriented or the actual "progressive" tracks are worse, thanks to the band apparently forgetting how to write anything even somewhat memorable. Yes, there are songs that contain few to no groove influences, but they're no better than the songs that do. The most appalling of these is definitely the title track, a bewildering understated track with nothing melodic about it. Then you have the directionless "Walking Wounded" and "Bitter Taste," a painful song that delivers upon its title.

The guitar tone is pretty heavy, but in that tired 90's way that doesn't really benefit the music. It also doesn't help that there are zero decent riffs on this thing. A lot of the tracks are either quiet and weird or groovy and annoying; there's pretty much no in between, though I at least detect some catchiness in opener "Down" even though it's obtained through impure means. Otherwise, this is simply 48 minutes of poisonous pain. Seekers of some musical salvation from 1990's, I must advise you stay away. You're not going to find the end of your journey here.

   Overall: 3/10 (Bad - no direction)