MINATOX69 – Collapse

Collapse, the newest release from Italy’s Minatox69 and their first full-length, starts strong with “I Can’t Believe”, a genre-defying track indicating how overflowing the band’s sonic bag of tricks is. Labelled Melodic Thrash Metal in the albums’ promo sheet, Minatox69 pull from a wide variety of styles and subgenres to craft a bold set of songs sure to reward with each successive listening. The Progressive and Thrash elements are evident in the first couple bars of the song, but the tune also incorporates some heavy Groove Metal back to back with Death Metal styling. Subsequent tracks alternate clean with rough vocals, screamed vocals and sung vocals—vocal harmonies are employed on several tracks.

The propulsive force of Minatox69’s sound comes mainly from Bozart’s vocals and the rapid-fire precision of Tado’s drumming. Although Minatox69 has two guitarists (Fox and Cupido), center stage is just as likely to be taken by Checco’s bass. Several of the songs, notably the mercurial title cut, feature interesting, science fiction-y guitar tunings reminiscent of Piggy’s playing in Voivod. Unfortunately, the otherworldly guitar sounds almost never move out of the background; “Frozen Blood” begins and ends with some Voivodian guitar effects that set the listener up for a shimmering solo that never arrives. An is an interesting track, but again one relying so heavily on the vocal and percussion one wonders if pushing the guitars so far down in the mix was a production decision.

The first four songs are the rage-filled heart of the album; the overall impact of Collapse begins to deteriorate after “Wht!?#”, a short throwaway instrumental. “Guilty” has passages that sound like Incubus or Cold and despite the strong vocal and drumming fails to fully get off the launching pad; “Next Enemy” likewise never really attains altitude, although it ends with a rare guitar solo. “Plastic Apocalypse” has a great guitar riff buried deeply in the mix, completely submerged under the vocals. “Cupidity” launches with a very Cold-like sound, at least until the drums kick in, and there is some clever interplay between the two guitars as the song progresses.

Perhaps most confusing is the decision to end with “Cyrus”, a quiet, pretty, instrumental which again gives guitar and bass equal weight. Possibly, the band intended the calming effects of this tune to act as a palliative to the outrage expressed in the previous nine cuts.

Despite the weaker back half, the first four tracks of Collapse are thoroughly unique, and they pack enough punch to satisfy fans of Thrash as well as Progressive Metal.