Review by Elijah on January 31, 2020.

S/2004s3 shows that brutal death metal is still relevant, strong, powerful. Though the genre basically died off in popularity in 2005/2006, there's a select number of bands that still maintain the talent to make more material, this band being one of them. For most fans of brutal death, what you normally do is find the few bands that you like and you stick with those for a while. You try to find more bands/albums that you might like but it doesn’t appeal to you as much as your favorite bands do. Well, that’s this album's purpose. Im so glad I came across this EP, finally gave me some more stuff to listen to and appreciate.

For some reason this band is obsessed with space, specifically UFO's and the theory of aliens, and they do a pretty good job presenting it in their music. With the titles of their songs being names of planets/beings in space, and having literally all the lyrics in some sort of space language, and not any actual words. They pretty much get full points for that aspect. The intro is what prepares you for all the brutality this has to offer. Space, extraterrestrials, sci-fi, and monstrous alien creatures. It perfectly portrays the feeling and mood of space. Unknown and undiscovered, ready for upcoming action.

After the intro, you immediately get a face full of brutality, a constant riff with snare blasting to back it up, then the vocals come in and create the atmosphere they claim to present. This band has major talent and consistency with every track spread-out and written creatively. The bass is very present on this, and adds more backbone, crispiness, and vibe to the music. And once again, the drums are just downright amazing; the sound of the drums themselves, and the drummer's musical ability. The musical aspect gets a 10/10.

All the instruments are good, and all tracks are definitely worth the listeners' time. Good drum sound, especially the snare, perfect guitars, noticeable bass, and great vocals. The vocals are just the good amount of high and low, the perfect balance. There isn't anything bad here at all, no downsides, no disadvantages at all. The lyrical content is on point, the musicality is on point, literally nothing at all is wrong here. One of the most talented, flawless, perfect brutal death records I've ever heard.

As I said in the beginning, this EP shows that they brutal death genre is still alive today in the underground and that the artists are still going at their bests and most talented. This opens up the gateway for more upcoming brutal death metal to spawn in the underground. I wish this band would make their debut album already, if they can make an EP this flawless, imagine how that album will be. If you haven't heard this EP already, go listen to it NOW. I guarantee you WILL NOT be disappointed.

Rating: 10 out of 10

Review by Felix on November 24, 2021.

I confess and beg for mercy. The shame is on me. Anyway, I feel the need to make my sin public. Here it is: I never understood why so many maniacs worship this release so intensely. My problem is the B side of the vinyl. Nevertheless, let's start with the first track, the monumental 'Chemical Warfare'. Honestly speaking, this is the only song which can challenge the tunes of the debut, at least in my humble opinion.

This does not mean that it follows a comparable approach. Quite the opposite. From today's perspective, 'Chemical Warfare' appears as a harbinger of the pieces of Hell Awaits. More complex than each and every song of Show No Mercy, it rushes over the battlefields which is littered with thousands of dead bodies. Of course, the debut's element of surprise is not reproducible. Slayer's ravenous appetite for extreme metal is already well known. However, the group does not lack of enthusiasm and combativeness. The violent approach of Huntington Park's loudest newcomers is authentic. Tom Araya's vocal performance delivers satanic vibes in abundance, Dave Lombardo is anything but lazy while torturing his drum kit and the famous guitar duo avoids any kind of redundant gimmicks. In a nutshell, 'Chemical Warfare' is a sonic nightmare of the most pleasant kind and tastes definitely better than, for example, mustard gas. Okay, this might be a matter of course. But it is also nothing new that hip hop and rap suck. Nevertheless, I remind my friends of this self-evident fact from time to time.

Yet Slayer are not able to hold the level. The noisy solos of the two further tracks of the vinyl lack of inspiration, while the comparatively unspectacular verses and the average choruses leave a rather vapid aftertaste. I am realistic enough to say that the best early thrash full-lengths originated from the United States of America. But I am also patriotic enough to declare that the best early thrash EP was produced in Germany, even if I do not know its name. ("Flag Of Hate" or "Sodomy And Lust"? Decide for yourself.) With that said, I want to emphasize that my expectations were extremely high after Show No Mercy. In other words, 'Captor Of Sin' and the title track were neither powerless nor ill-defined. Yet totally mind-blowing elements like the riff of 'The Antichrist' or the mid-part of 'Die By The Sword' (remember the unbeatable "Watch as flowers decay"-sequence) did not show up. And, by the way, the slightly dull sound also did not fully convince.

Only for the sake of completeness, I mention the CD bonus track 'Aggressive Perfector'. In terms of quality, this one-size-fits-all bonus (among other things, it appears on the European version of Show No Mercy, the Postmortem EP and the here presented EP) lies exactly between the A side and the B side of the vinyl. Nevertheless, it is not the most original bonus. Thus, as a little act of revenge, here comes my one-rating-fits-all: 8, regardless of the format.

Rating: 8 out of 10