Review by Felix on December 26, 2023.

First things first, nine out of ten guys who choose such an artwork for their album are either badly advised or they have a strange taste. Or, worse still, they have a (frequently empty-headed) "message". More directly expressed, the cover sucks. Anyway, here comes another statistic which I have faked carefully. Nine out of ten bands who play thrash and burst of energy are able to make my day. Good news, Battery is not the tenth group.

Their debut was a feast for adrenaline junkies and the Danish force saw no reason to change its approach. "Martial Law" follows its predecessor very exactly. Speed, ferocity, fury, Battery deliver these ingredients in abundance. Furthermore, the album scores with a powerful production. Even the bass guitar plays a prominent role and only fools think that this is a matter of course. Under these circumstances, one should not be baffled that Battery are able to celebrate a thrash party of the finest art. Well, their compositional skills can be discussed controversially, because there are genre albums that hold more diverse material. However, the band is still young and probably able to reach the next development stage.

Despite the unmodified style, "Martial Law" is not "Armed with Rage Part II". Nevertheless, there are some similarities as indicated above. "Downfall of an Age", to give but one example, picks up the thread of "Vermin of Fukushima" and adds some groovy rhythms to the dominating thrash staccato. Just like the song about the horrible catastrophe in Japan from the year 2011, this more or less casual riff attack contrasts with the remaining songs without appearing as a foreign body. Furthermore, it develops an own identity in the context of the here presented material, while a small number of the more typical tunes struggle hard to distinguish themselves from the rest. This is a little bit sad, because the guys from Northern Europe actually know how to combine pummeling vehemence with concise choruses. Impulsive eruptions like "Battery by Authority", "The Rapture" and "Proxy Warfare" invite the listener to bang his head to tracks with clear contours and impress with their brutal form of catchiness. Other pieces sweep across the urban deserts of thrash and their violence deserves recognition. Yet as much as I regret it, they have no lasting effect.

I do not think that a continued development is an value in itself in terms of metal bands. Of course, I appreciate formations that get better and better in executing their kind of music, but I do not praise groups for giving up their initial style successively. With that said, I want to express my concern that Battery are at risk of ending up in a blind alley. A combination of slightly more mid-paced, somewhat groovy tracks with more meticulously designed thrash torpedoes could be the recipe for the next full-length. I do not want them to become a hybrid of thrash and power / nu / punk / whatever metal. And do not get me wrong, "Martial Law" is definitely a good work, not least because of an expressive lead vocalist and effective gang shouts. The musicians just should sharpen their approach constantly. Then I am sure that the next album will be a killer that challenges their debut. Maybe even the next artwork will be acceptable again.

Rating: 7.7 out of 10

Review by Greg on December 26, 2023.

Danish army Battery strikes once again, after their crushing debut Armed with Rage, and I admit I heard about this sophomore effort only a few days ago, since I can't seem to keep up the pace of all the new albums released in 2016 (hoping I'm not the only one). Very little variations on the line-up, and the band is ready for the second wave of the attack with their tried formula, made of total speed worship and above average technicality.

The power of the debut album is still resonating on this Martial Law. There really isn't much room for complaints about the instrumental section, as it offers a muscular, energetic performance which isn't terribly different from what heard on Armed with Rage. The guitarists provide another relentless riffs/solos assault, nevertheless there's still plenty of space for Jannick Nielsen's four strings beneath them. Andreas Joen is still in charge of the drums, so mid-paced parts are again cut down to the bone, and the usual skank beat is sporadically pushed to blast-beats. Also the production is quite similar. The main novelty to the eye is that one of the ten tracks is an instrumental, 'Forced Retaliation', but it feels more like an interlude and less like a proper song, broken off at merely 2 minutes and thus sending a promising beginning to waste.

So, how can this nearly average score be justified? Armed with Rage was easily worthy of a 80-85%, depending on personal tastes (personally I like full-throttle albums like these). The main difference, and to my eyes also the main problem, lies in the evolution of Chris Steel's voice. Don't get me wrong, it's not radically different, since it still finds place in territories akin to Lenny Breuss (Dust Bolt), now maybe leaning a bit towards Uappa Terror of Terrordome, and always maintaining his cool and bestial at the same time low register. But I feel it's the only part which doesn't convey the same feeling of aggression of their previous output, and considering that the other members are basically on par with it, it ends up taking away some points from Martial Law. The least enjoyable aspect of it are probably the occasional high pitched screams, a peculiarity of him and of the aforementioned vocalists, which sound unexpectedly tired and even off-key in some parts ('Kukulkan' or the otherwise good 'Battery by Authority').

To top it all off, although writing memorable songs has never been among Battery's chief purposes, with the debut they somehow managed to deliver an instant classic to history books, namely 'Narcotic Mirage', which stood way above the general sameness of the songs. Unfortunately we aren't welcomed by a similar masterpiece this time, though this was a really arduous task to accomplish. Regardless, 'The Rapture' is a very strong track and probably the best here, and overall the whole first half is the most convincing, with the aforementioned 'Kukulkan' being perhaps the only subpar episode. 'Downfall of an Age' is the 'Vermin of Fukushima' of the album, groovy and anthemic, and '2083' offers more welcome tempo changes. In the second half we get the interesting 'Evil Offspring', which is based upon the biblical story of Anak and his sons, a dark theme which helps it becoming one of the highlights of the album. Apparently similar is the following 'Evoke the Morbid', unfortunately a bit too repetitive in my opinion. Still, Martial Law manages to end on a relative high note with the gang shouts-driven title-track and closer, with its outro also featuring probably the best riff in the whole album. But, again, it's no 'Genocidal Gatlin Gunners', so very few are the songs on here that I would prefer over Armed with Rage.

In any case, I reckon I've been a bit too harsh and I didn't mean to tear this album apart, because if you can get past the occasional vocal misstep you'll find another solid, violent thrash metal offering, in the way Battery accustomed us. While I'm just not enthusiastic about the vocal parts, nor I'll be remembering every song here for the rest of my life, it's far from being a bad work. Give it a try, in case you're running out of headbanging-inducing stuff.

Rating: 7.3 out of 10