LAMERA – Destruction Manual

The German Lamera is one of a huge load of bands who are trying to make their music the American way. The band plays Post-Thrash Metal with more than enough hints of Hardcore. These kinds of Crossovers started out in the U.S in the late 1980s with names such as S.O.D, M.O.D and D.R.I. Lamera is not doing it like the old Crossover bands, they are more into the groovy Hardcore and less Thrash. Their Thrash Metal influence is taken more from its modern era; let’s say like Machine Head, almost without non-Old School elements that served this sub-genre in its glory days.

This group from Mannheim, Baden-Württemberg, revealed itself in 2004 as a group without a singer until the day came when future vocalist / guitarist, Thomas Franklin, took his chances on the vocals and it turned out that he was quite good at it and the blank spot was filled and Lamera were on their way. After many twists and turns that involved the bassist’s schooling in the US, in the beginning of 2008 Lamera released its first demo, Destruction Manual, which for a demo, represents a well done work on the sound production and the mixing. This group shows, like others like them, how angry they can be on important issues like politics, relationships and everyday life.

Musically, Lamera went for an important element in today’s Modern Metal scene and that is the low tuned guitars. Thomas and Matej are kicking with several B-tuned riffs of guitar mayhem. However, many of these riffs are kick downs, that are mostly associated with the Hardcore and Nu-Metal sub-genres, which won’t leave them be and that is kind of boring. The positive thing that comes out of all of this is that the band’s guitar riffs are not just those undying kicksters and they made the effort to be genuine with some nifty stuff along the way like soft and melodic rhythms and a single solo tryout. Along with the guitars there is cool bass work by Max, who is also co-joining with the vocals, and a strong performance drumming by Silvio, whom in most songs is doing his job as a coordinator and tempo keeper with simple stuff but his job rate is high.

Destruction Manual, won’t leave you on the floor bleeding for sure but it’s a nice record to keep in your collection. Lamera are more of a Hardcore band than a Thrash one, yet they try to show that the Thrashy vibes still live in them. However listeners will have to listen closely to find these vibes except from one typical song which is the blasting “Erased”. This one is a total terrorizer of Modern Thrash / Speed combustion with the simplest subject of “I hate you and I will kick your ass because you are nothing”. Expect to find kick downs “how can we live without them really” but also heavy Speed Metal fine riffs.

The highlights from the Destruction are; “Novocaine”, which is more of a Hardcore song with the kicks again, nice semi-melodic riffs and speedy sections. The chorus is something different in this one with the band’s first experimentation with melodic clean vocals.

“Broken” is not Thrash nor hardcore, more like a Nu-Metal song with a clean section that reminds of semi-spoken words with a bit of singing, yet the guitar work is pretty good. In the electric section a lot of pain and anger is unleashed because of this heavy weight breakup.

“War Machine” is a Modern Thrasher with growly vocals. There is a lot of criticism in this one against nuclear outbreaks – a great listener. “What We Are” is back to Hardcore and less Thrash, with the well-known environmental discussion. The song presents the co-work of Thomas and Max. The music is nice with a soft section stop but not that special, yet it’s a worthy listen. Finally there is “Erased”, which was also first presented in the first W.Y.A.T show.

Lamera are only in their first steps towards their goal in Metal. This demo is their first mark on the Metal world and they did a very nice job. With hope, as a Thrasher, that they would turn back to Thrash and crossover again. Good luck dudes.