Review by Felix on May 9, 2019.

Autumn Roars Thunder is a difficult album for all those who enjoyed Heirs of the Northstar. The centerfold of its booklet shows a very atmospheric picture of a Northern landscape and the music focuses, compared with that of the debut, also on atmosphere. The strict and icy approach of the thunderous predecessor does no longer exist. The elegiac title track rolls in slowly, the vocals lack bitterness, malignancy and coldness and a very calm spoken words part marks a really weak sequence of the eleven-minutes-monument. All in all, this opener can be understood as an experiment with some good melodies, but it also holds crude elements.

After such a statement at the beginning, the band has to accept that the faster tracks on the album appear somewhat half-hearted. It gets obvious that the dudes are heading for new shores and they do it in a competent manner, but I guess I would not have bought the album back in the last millennium if I had known some tracks in advance. Even songs that break loose in a pretty hysteric manner, for example "The Conspiracy of the Pagan Cult", confront the listener with breaks that kill some percent of the strength of these tracks. Nevertheless, it feels great to hear the insane screaming of the lead singer on these songs and to experience the straight hammering of the drums. One can discuss about the relatively great influence of the keyboards during some parts of the songs, but fortunately the cold fury of the fastest sections turns out to be their characterizing feature. On the other hand, Viking-inspired mid-tempo tracks such as "Hymn of the Darkwood" are simply too long, to say the least. The song structure is neither adventurous nor unpredictable and the female background vocals coalesce with the strange, wannabe-heroic male lead vocals to a relatively inedible cocktail. I admit that the slower songs have a handful of good riffs, but from time to time they disappear behind the keyboards, the lead and background vocals instead of claiming a leading role.

For fans of harsh, merciless black metal, the album is like a rollercoaster with countless ups and downs. In its feeble moments, the album sounds like a collection of leftovers that Ancient never dared to release. The lead vocalist is no natural born vocal talent, although he seems to be exactly of this opinion. No doubt, he made a good job on the debut, but here he fails. An aggravating factor to be taken into account is that almost dreamful breaks appear occasionally and make me think of finishing this review prematurely. But it goes without saying that this would be inacceptable and, honestly speaking, the narrow-minded, typical Northern black metal sequences are still fascinating ("I Burn at the Stake", "On the Top of the Falcon Hill"). These eruptions of primordial force help the full-length to keep its head above water. That said, it can be recommended with restrictions. Its production avoids severe shortcomings, but naturally it cannot make up for the reduced power of the compositions. So, decide for yourself whether or not you like to check a pretty heterogeneous work of an actually talented group. Just do not expect a ferocious masterpiece like the debut.

Rating: 7 out of 10

Review by Alex on May 1, 2018.

I'm not fond of melodic death metal. Strangely enough, I see it as a watered-down, radio friendly form of the source genre. My patience with this subgenre is very thin, therefore making it almost impossible to earn my attention, keep it, and leave me with a good impression. That being said, Penetrum has somewhat clawed at my interest and succeeded at absorbing it within the music of their 2018 release, Instrument of Delusion. Don't let the album's somber artwork misled you into thinking Instrument of Delusion is a melancholic album. Absolutely not! This isn't the kind of melodic death metal that sounds all whiny and mournful; it's quite the opposite and even sounds cheerful on some tracks. 

Instrument of Delusion places a heavy emphasis on catchy melodies, guitar riffs and leads, all the while creating a feeling of blackened death metal via the vocals being presented. Some elements of folk metal are also introduced on the album, especially on the track "Blazing Souls." This track features fast-paced thrash metal-style drumming and furious guitar leads, all ridden triumphantly by the folky style of singing that appears more towards the middle of the track. The song is very fast and even increases in intensity (momentum-wise) towards the end, via the speed metal style of drumming. Yes, I'm thrilled to say that Instrument of Delusion has much variety (thus avoiding boredom and repetition) that is handled with care in terms of implementation, thus preventing the music from turning into a clumsy disaster of notes. The speed that "Blazing Souls" possessed is toned down a bit on the following track "Crimson Forest;" indeed it's flow is still relatively fast, but the little loss in momentum is compensated for with very strong guitar work on the leads and the solo. Towards the end of "Crimson Forest," Penetrum returns to the quickening pace of "Blazing Souls" by adding scorching "first-wave" black metal drumming with furious "second-wave" wave black metal tremolo picking. 

Now, to quench the listener's thirst after that blazing sprint through the forest, we see Penetrum slow down quite a bit on the track "Blood Taste's Like Lead." Nikita Volkov takes a break from the harsh vocals for a short moment and soothes the listener's ear with delicate clean singing. The hoarse screaming only reappears on the chorus of the song and far towards the end of the track. The guitars also take a step back into a low tempo supporting role and allow Volkov to execute his task proficiently. The clean singing on "Blood Tastes Like Lead" is not bad at all, nor is it perfect; it’s just right and suits the production well.

I encountered one blemish which appeared on the track "Amok." On this track, the production at the very beginning of the song sounded very choppy and faded, as though it had been recorded and printed on a poor quality of cassette reel. Thankfully, this doesn't persist and only lasts for a very short period of time. Overall, the production is sturdy and does not in any way come across as being too clean. It seems to have some likeness in terms of black metal, which is unusual in melodic death metal; however, it works out well and positively contributes to the way Penetrum plays their its of music.

"Caprice of Delusion" is an instrumental track that slowly builds into a blizzard of barraging guitar melodies, leads and riffs. The guitars take full command over this six-minute epic; it's a track that constantly changes its melody and pace while distributing memorable bits of melody. It brings the album to a decent end, and although clocking at 45-minutes long, the listener's sense of time is lost throughout the entirety of the album. Because of this, I can say that Penetrum's 2018 debut offering is truly an instrument of delusion.

Rating: 8.5 out of 10

Review by JD on March 16, 2012.

For years, I have been telling the world that Canada is the newest hotspot for metal and the world is starting to see. One of those bands that is starting to make the world notice the metallic might of Canada is Moncton New Brunswick based political thrashers Dischord (not the punk band of the same name).

Taking the styling of old school Thrash like Exodus and older Testament and some 3 Inches Of Blood, adding in some Hardcore elements a la Agnostic Front and the some progressive way of arranging things, you get Thrash that is Superthrash. Talented and brutal, Dischord seems to be on the verge of something remarkable.

Songs like the nasty Speed Metal tinged Thrash of 'Silent Genocide' that shows a razor walk of balance between full on chaos and talent rich control, while the slower and darkly menacing hammering of 'Shadow Demon' pounds into your mind and shows a fiery yet natural maturity that some acts never get throughout an entire career. The whole album goes on like this, walking that tightrope and succeeding with each and every note the band throws at the listeners.

Gotta say that I am impressed as all hell at the moment, not to mention a proud Canuck. Dischord is a band that shows that all Thrash is not created equal. I may have coined the phrase earlier, but it still holds true. This is Superthrash, and as a Canadian, I gotta be proud as hell. You know, I am.

Categorical Rating Breakdown

Musicianship: 9
Atmosphere: 9.5
Production: 8.5
Originality: 9
Overall: 9

Rating: 9.0 out of 10

Review by Alex on May 1, 2018.

I'm not fond of melodic death metal. Strangely enough, I see it as a watered-down, radio friendly form of the source genre. My patience with this subgenre is very thin, therefore making it almost impossible to earn my attention, keep it, and leave me with a good impression. That being said, Penetrum has somewhat clawed at my interest and succeeded at absorbing it within the music of their 2018 release, Instrument of Delusion. Don't let the album's somber artwork misled you into thinking Instrument of Delusion is a melancholic album. Absolutely not! This isn't the kind of melodic death metal that sounds all whiny and mournful; it's quite the opposite and even sounds cheerful on some tracks. 

Instrument of Delusion places a heavy emphasis on catchy melodies, guitar riffs and leads, all the while creating a feeling of blackened death metal via the vocals being presented. Some elements of folk metal are also introduced on the album, especially on the track "Blazing Souls." This track features fast-paced thrash metal-style drumming and furious guitar leads, all ridden triumphantly by the folky style of singing that appears more towards the middle of the track. The song is very fast and even increases in intensity (momentum-wise) towards the end, via the speed metal style of drumming. Yes, I'm thrilled to say that Instrument of Delusion has much variety (thus avoiding boredom and repetition) that is handled with care in terms of implementation, thus preventing the music from turning into a clumsy disaster of notes. The speed that "Blazing Souls" possessed is toned down a bit on the following track "Crimson Forest;" indeed it's flow is still relatively fast, but the little loss in momentum is compensated for with very strong guitar work on the leads and the solo. Towards the end of "Crimson Forest," Penetrum returns to the quickening pace of "Blazing Souls" by adding scorching "first-wave" black metal drumming with furious "second-wave" wave black metal tremolo picking. 

Now, to quench the listener's thirst after that blazing sprint through the forest, we see Penetrum slow down quite a bit on the track "Blood Taste's Like Lead." Nikita Volkov takes a break from the harsh vocals for a short moment and soothes the listener's ear with delicate clean singing. The hoarse screaming only reappears on the chorus of the song and far towards the end of the track. The guitars also take a step back into a low tempo supporting role and allow Volkov to execute his task proficiently. The clean singing on "Blood Tastes Like Lead" is not bad at all, nor is it perfect; it’s just right and suits the production well.

I encountered one blemish which appeared on the track "Amok." On this track, the production at the very beginning of the song sounded very choppy and faded, as though it had been recorded and printed on a poor quality of cassette reel. Thankfully, this doesn't persist and only lasts for a very short period of time. Overall, the production is sturdy and does not in any way come across as being too clean. It seems to have some likeness in terms of black metal, which is unusual in melodic death metal; however, it works out well and positively contributes to the way Penetrum plays their its of music.

"Caprice of Delusion" is an instrumental track that slowly builds into a blizzard of barraging guitar melodies, leads and riffs. The guitars take full command over this six-minute epic; it's a track that constantly changes its melody and pace while distributing memorable bits of melody. It brings the album to a decent end, and although clocking at 45-minutes long, the listener's sense of time is lost throughout the entirety of the album. Because of this, I can say that Penetrum's 2018 debut offering is truly an instrument of delusion.

Rating: 8.5 out of 10