Protector - Reanimated Homunculus
Protector are one of my favourite German bands. Ever. I always thought that they should have been given more recognition for their works, with albums such as Golem and the incredible A Shedding of Skin being amongst my favourite death-thrash releases of all time so imagine my surprise when a Protector reunion was announced alongside a four track demo entitled The Return of Thrash And Madness in 2011. It was extremely exciting for me, but the sole original member in this new lineup was Martin Missy - the vocalist on the band's first three releases. No Olly Wiebel, no Ede Belichmeier and of course no Michael Hasse (who passed away in 1992) which sort of made me think that it would have been better sticking with the Martin Missy And The Protectors tag that this 'new' band had been using for a few years beforehand. But I digress - The Return of Thrash And Madness demo was unrefined and a little lacking in the production department, but it was a very promising sign of things to come from this reborn Protector. And then earlier this year it was finally announced that the band would release their first full length album in 20 years, entitled Reanimated Homunculus. The wait is over - how does it hold up?
Well, the good news is that it's definitely a Protector album. Martin Missy sounds better than he ever did on Protector's earlier works, and the newcomers are obviously big fans who have hit the nail on the head as far as composition goes. Opening gambit 'Sons of Kain' is a solid and dare I say catchy track to kick the whole album off with, 'Holiday In Hell' is a ripping fast beast and 'Calle' Brutal' is a very short (less than a minute and a half) punch to the face to finish off the album with, all of which could have fit perfectly on an album like Urm the Mad back in the eighties. There's also three tracks from The Return of Thrash And Madness here alongside a new version of 'The End' from the 2000 demo Resurrected, which is great to see but rather confusing since the only (ex) Protector member to play on that demo was drummer Marco Pape, whose only contribution to the band beforehand was playing drums on The Heritage after Michael Hasse passed away the year before it's release. Still, it's given a new lease of life here and is most certainly superior to it's original recording. So that's the good out of the way - it sounds like Protector, it's well written and it's fast and thrashy as all hell. The bad news is... well, the production is a bit lacking.
Don't get me wrong, Reanimated Homunculus sounds great. It's quite cleanly produced in a way, but the tone feels off - the guitar sound lacks much of a crunch and the bass is pretty much inaudible a lot of the time, lacking the punch that's required on a record such as this one. On the flipside, The Return of Thrash And Madness may have had a questionable production job but at least it had an overall meatier tone and bass that was actually levelled well in the mix, and though it doesn't completely ruin the album by any means, but it's certainly a significant enough flaw that the sound alone prevents Reanimated Homunculus from getting an otherwise guaranteed full score. Although Martin Missy exited the band before Leviathan's Desire or A Shedding of Skin, surely he's aware of how fantastic the production was on those albums. Perhaps the band were shooting for that 'retro' sound akin to the production on 1987's Misanthrophy EP, and it does have that little bit of nostalgic feel in that regard but even Misanthropy had a slightly fuller sound that this does. Once again, it's not so bad that it ruins the entire experience and tone aside the album sounds pretty good, but it's still a bit of a letdown.
So despite my picky issues with the album's sound, Reanimated Homunculus is exactly what a Protector album should be... okay, so it's not quite on the same level as A Shedding of Skin but its pretty goddamn close and that in itself is a monstrous achievement. Martin and his boys have done the Protector legacy proud with this one, and I sincerely hope that they manage to spew forth another colossal record in another year or two. You'd be a complete and utter fool to miss out on Reanimated Homunculus. Flaws aside, this is an album that is worth the 20 year wait and then some.
Well, the good news is that it's definitely a Protector album. Martin Missy sounds better than he ever did on Protector's earlier works, and the newcomers are obviously big fans who have hit the nail on the head as far as composition goes. Opening gambit 'Sons of Kain' is a solid and dare I say catchy track to kick the whole album off with, 'Holiday In Hell' is a ripping fast beast and 'Calle' Brutal' is a very short (less than a minute and a half) punch to the face to finish off the album with, all of which could have fit perfectly on an album like Urm the Mad back in the eighties. There's also three tracks from The Return of Thrash And Madness here alongside a new version of 'The End' from the 2000 demo Resurrected, which is great to see but rather confusing since the only (ex) Protector member to play on that demo was drummer Marco Pape, whose only contribution to the band beforehand was playing drums on The Heritage after Michael Hasse passed away the year before it's release. Still, it's given a new lease of life here and is most certainly superior to it's original recording. So that's the good out of the way - it sounds like Protector, it's well written and it's fast and thrashy as all hell. The bad news is... well, the production is a bit lacking.
Don't get me wrong, Reanimated Homunculus sounds great. It's quite cleanly produced in a way, but the tone feels off - the guitar sound lacks much of a crunch and the bass is pretty much inaudible a lot of the time, lacking the punch that's required on a record such as this one. On the flipside, The Return of Thrash And Madness may have had a questionable production job but at least it had an overall meatier tone and bass that was actually levelled well in the mix, and though it doesn't completely ruin the album by any means, but it's certainly a significant enough flaw that the sound alone prevents Reanimated Homunculus from getting an otherwise guaranteed full score. Although Martin Missy exited the band before Leviathan's Desire or A Shedding of Skin, surely he's aware of how fantastic the production was on those albums. Perhaps the band were shooting for that 'retro' sound akin to the production on 1987's Misanthrophy EP, and it does have that little bit of nostalgic feel in that regard but even Misanthropy had a slightly fuller sound that this does. Once again, it's not so bad that it ruins the entire experience and tone aside the album sounds pretty good, but it's still a bit of a letdown.
So despite my picky issues with the album's sound, Reanimated Homunculus is exactly what a Protector album should be... okay, so it's not quite on the same level as A Shedding of Skin but its pretty goddamn close and that in itself is a monstrous achievement. Martin and his boys have done the Protector legacy proud with this one, and I sincerely hope that they manage to spew forth another colossal record in another year or two. You'd be a complete and utter fool to miss out on Reanimated Homunculus. Flaws aside, this is an album that is worth the 20 year wait and then some.
1. Sons Of Kain
2. Deranged Nymphomania
3. Holiday In Hell
4. Reanimated Homunculus
5. Birth Of A Nation
6. Lycopolis
7. Road Rage
8. Antiman
9. The End
10. Calle Brutal
2. Deranged Nymphomania
3. Holiday In Hell
4. Reanimated Homunculus
5. Birth Of A Nation
6. Lycopolis
7. Road Rage
8. Antiman
9. The End
10. Calle Brutal
Label: http://www.hrrecords.de
Reviewer: Dave Ingram Jr.
Sep 10, 2013
Sep 10, 2013
Next review:
Kemakil - Kemakil
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