Degradation-Juggernaut

2011

Chicago's Degradation have been around for a decade, but their total output is an EP in 2007 and this full length. Their style is very much of the Bay area variety with Exodus, Testament and Vio-lence are major influences. They have a tight style with quite a few pace changes. They certainly get beyond a basic approach on every song. There is more of a technical leaning to their approach than their is a straight ahead steamroller type of attack. However the music is heavy enough and they mix their tempo changes in with solid thrash blasts. The vocals of Alex Manske fall a bit short for me as he alternates between a talking style and a slight barking sound. However he lacks the force and variation that would really fit with the music. Every track here is decent, but certainly not anything that you didn't hear twenty plus years ago by more memorable bands. These guys show enough promise enough to keep me interested. However I hope they work at developing their own sound to add into the mix and the vocals need to be stronger for this band to really get to the next level.