Review by Felix on July 25, 2019.

Where is the button we have to press in order to get back into the past? And is it only a question of time? Definitely not. It is also a matter of recreating the same personal circumstances, the same mentality, the same surrounding. In terms of a metal band, we should not forget that it also needs the same level of musicianship and at least comparable technical possibilities. In short: it is simply impossible to regain the original spirit of the early or mid-eighties.

Sodom try their best to find a way to the atmosphere of their beginning. But the recording sessions were pure hell due to Chris Witchhunter's serious illness. An alcoholic on drums is no good idea when it comes to record a more or less professional album. Cynics might say that the involvement of Witchhunter (R.I.P.) ensured the awkward momentum on The Final Sign of Evil Tom Angelripper was striving for. But this is a very contemptuous interpretation and I do not share this point of view. Anyway, the drumming remains very simple - but the same applies for anything else. The song collection suffers from a lack of dynamic. Both the song structures and the guitar leads reveal the great room for improvement that Sodom still had to fill at the very early stage of their career. Outbreak of Evil never scored with compositional sophistication. It made an impact, because it was a sheer explosion in 1984, but another format of the well-known track 23 years later cannot have the same effect. Thousands of other extreme metal bands have published their form of musical violence and therefore the original version remains unique only because of our nostalgic memories. This is exactly the crucial difference between the two versions: the recycled edition is not combined with any events or moments of our youth. Thus, it is not unique and so only a more or less good, yet interchangeable track remains.

Let's leave every type of nostalgia where it is and concentrate on the songs. It becomes obvious that the decision of SPV / Devil's Game in 1985 to publish only an EP was a good one. This dozen of decent yet somehow flat tracks is a little bit boring over the full distance. Of course, the first regular full-length Obsessed by Cruelty did not lack excitement, but it offered a couple of pretty complex configurations ("After the Deluge", for instance) which are missing here. I do not say that the compositions sound half-baked or ill-defined, but no song leaves a long-lasting impression. The material passes by without remarkable ups and downs. Tom's nagging is always welcome, and the archaic black / thrash approach has a certain charm, nevertheless: either one releases such songs at the time of their creation or never. The album lacks charisma, spirit and authentic vibrations. Additionally, the "new" songs, those which did not find its place on In the Sign of Evil, are rather weaker than stronger in comparison with the five classics. I don't say that they are typical outtakes, but back in the mid-eighties, the juvenile group was well advised to write and use other tracks for their following vinyl’s. The different parts of the songs do not always form a strong unit and therefore some of the unpolished compositions remain a patchwork ("Where Angels Die", "Ashes to Ashes"). On the other hand, "Hatred of the Gods" or "Defloration" score with some fine riffs and speedy parts. So, don't worry, you do not need to fear any damage when giving the album a try. But it is a relatively tough job to accompany Tom, Chris and Grave Violator on their journey through time.

Of course, technical gimmicks and an overly powerful sound would not have match the intention of the band. Grave Violator is not the pseudonym of the world's greatest guitar wizard and the mix is neither inferior nor really competitive. Not to mention the difficulties with Witchhunter and his mediocre performance. Anyhow, if you like to listen to a great portion of Teutonic rumbling: Angelripper is your supplier - even though he also did not find the button to turn back time.

Rating: 6.5 out of 10

Review by Vladimir on June 25, 2024.

When it comes to contemporary technical or progressive metal stuff, I really try my best to stay away from that as much as possible, because a lot of times I end up hearing albums where everything is flat-out senseless or so uninspiring that it gives me headaches. Sure, technicality is a matter of displaying very complicated but exercised musicality, but most of the time it’s about flexing your muscles as much as possible, so in the end, it’s really up to your interpretation. However, this one will be some sort of an exception, because I was asked and recommended to give this one a try and see what it has to offer. The subject that I am referring to is the technical/progressive thrash metal band from Ukraine called Cosmic Jaguar, which consists of two members from the Ukrainian technical thrash metal band Bestial Invasion, Evgen Vasilyev (aka Juan Maestro) and Sergiy Bondar (aka Sergio Lunático). I’ve been familiar with the works of Sergiy Bondar ever since 2015, as he was best known as Metal Priest or Serg Metal Priest back in those days, due to his blog World of MP, and back then I did actually check out his band Bestial Invasion, but unfortunately, I have not been able to follow along. Considering that he is involved in this new entity that is Cosmic Jaguar, I was actually very optimistic to give it a try, and so I finally did after a while. The topic of this review will be covering the band’s second full-length album El Era Del Jaguar, released on May 29th, 2024, via Soman Records. Without further ado, it’s time to dive into the era of the jaguar.

Cosmic Jaguar strikes hard with the wrath of its ancestors from the first track 'God Of Sun And War', showcasing some tight and intense technical thrash metal with a lot of progression and insane instrumentation, amped up by the screaming vocals of Sergio Lunático. Stylistically, their music takes a lot of queues from highly respectable bands in the same branch, such as Watchtower, Spastic Ink, Atheist, Cynic, Coroner, Spiral Architect and Mekong Delta, with a lot of their elements flowing through the riffs and arrangements of Cosmic Jaguar’s music. Aside from predominant jazz fusion influenced guitar solos and technical guitar riffs, you will also hear tons of slap bass, two-hand tapping or flamenco style playing that Sergio incorporates in his bass lines, odd-tempo drumming, wind instruments by Mazatecpatl and some clean female vocals by Chimalma. Overall, you can easily tell that the album is just packed with a lot of inclusions from every corner, be it musical ideas or various guest appearances such as guitar solos and additional vocals, but it’s important to note that nothing going to waste, because everything here plays some significant role in the band’s sound. As the album progresses, the intensity and heaviness remain constant, maintaining a strong and focused stylistic consistency all the way through, and at times things do manage to get even more insane on a couple of tracks such as 'Obsidian Mirror' and 'The Shorn Ones'. I guess I could easily describe the instrumentation on El Era Del Jaguar as “thrash metal with a musical degree”, because I really feel like these guys know more than a thing or two about musical theory when it comes to their songwriting and playing.

Speaking of songwriting, I think it would be no surprise to say that it is highly dynamic from one track to another, and with all that this album throws at you, it’s pretty much a “one million notes per second” record. Surprisingly enough, even though you can hear plenty of technical thrash metal stuff on this album, it is much more than that, because you can call this borderline technical/progressive death-thrash metal, judging by the vocal style and the more extreme guitar work which transitions throughout the entire album, never holding strictly to one territory. Even though I am not a big fan of technical and progressive metal bands who incorporate such style, I won’t deny that this is objectively speaking very well-thought-out and ambitious work from start to finish, which is also nicely built up with the lyrical themes of Aztec culture and mythology, something that you wouldn’t expect to find nowadays, even among South American metal bands. Considering what Cosmic Jaguar does on the entire El Era Del Jaguar album, it is like a machine that keeps on giving, pretty much spawning riff ideas, solos and wind instruments on songs like a mechanised typewriter. I actually have big respect for the fact that they don’t include female vocals or wind instruments just for good measure, but rather contribute to the general flow of the song, and it’s always highlighted in the right moment without ever ending up overshadowed or ignored later on. As for the production, I can only add that Sergio Lunático did a very good job with the modern high-quality sound of El Era Del Jaguar, where every instrument and vocal work is top-notch in the overall mix.

Personally, I’d say that El Era Del Jaguar is a very ambitious and complex work which is layered with various ideas that altogether make a pretty rich sound. Judging from what I have heard on this album, I guess it’s safe to say that overall work of Cosmic Jaguar is all about keeping things as tight and precise as possible, leaving no room for anything weak or uninspiring. You can probably tell that I generally don’t really fancy technical metal albums, but that doesn’t mean that I can’t enjoy or appreciate such works from time to time. If you are into bands like Cynic, Spastic Ink and Watchtower, I suggest that you take a look at Cosmic Jaguar’s discography and make sure not to miss out on the latest entry that is El Era Del Jaguar.

Rating: 8 out of 10

Review by Greg on June 25, 2024.

Just a year after The Legacy Of The Aztecs came out of nowhere with its psychotic concoction of progressive thrash and Mesoamerican history, Cosmic Jaguar didn't give the world enough time to let that sink in and were already confident enough to release a sequel, the brand-new El Era Del Jaguar. But if you were afraid of Metal Priest/Sergio Lunático's trying his hand at Spanish from the album title (and as far as I can tell there's at least a typo in it so you'd be right to do so), you can rest assured it isn't the case. Yet, despite the rather short time in the making, we're dealing with a totally different beast this time.

I already mentioned Atheist with regards to Cosmic Jaguar's sound, and the more and more space dedicated to jazzy interludes will logically make "Unquestionable Presence" spring to the minds of many, but I'll be the one to differ and say I also hear a lot of Sadus, especially "A Vision Of Misery", in addition to that. Part of that can also be traced back to Sergio's venomous middle register, now closer to Darren Travis around that era. The historical lyrics are still difficult to discern without a lyrics sheet under your eye, but I'm digging his performance here, also on the ever-present bass. The guitars were sharpened, and a quick peek at the list of numerous guests might be an explanation, seeing the names of Sadist's Tommy Talamanca, Blind Illusion's Marc Biedermann, even the reunited Vendetta duo of Micky and Daxx, all appearing alongside the Bestial Invasion core. Couple that with a drummer change as well, to give those extra bpms the debut often lacked, and I don't think the premises could have been better than these.

In any case, the biggest progress was made with the songwriting. Even the refrains alone are a clear showcase, still consisting of the same repetitive formula, but working a lot better on this landscape, like 'Solar Logos' or 'The Shorn Ones', to name two, might confirm – the former enriched with a spot-on lead melody, while the latter conveys an imponent-sounding feeling that's hard to explain. And if the jazzy first song is surely nothing to scoff at, but doesn't paint the full picture either (not least due to its mindless shredding at the end), the rest is almost a truly killer-after-killer experience. Once again, the middle part of the album is where Cosmic Jaguar manage to gather their best moments. A standout track is no doubt 'Ashes In Eyes', where the returning female vocals are embedded in a more interesting way, intertwined as a nice contrast with the faster parts. I hesitate to define her voice as 'celestial', but only because I was considering reserving that adjective for Denis Shvarts' leads all over the whole song – smooth, almost relaxing in the slower sections. However uncomfortable you might be right now after hearing these occasionally softer detours, fear not as 'Obsidian Mirror' and 'Decapitated Lunar Goddess' are conversely the most barbaric, ready to mercilessly wipe them away in a flurry of blasting drums, amazing soloing, and menacing shrieks. I can't say I was the biggest fan of the spoken parts of closer 'La Noche Triste', although I understand they were going for a more dramatic effect to go alongside the story being told.

El Era Del Jaguar might not be the kind of album you listen to day and night, but it's simply stunning nonetheless. It's the kind of second album that improves basically everything the debut offered, and that alone is a win in my book, but also the lunatic blend of ferocious thrash metal, progressive tropes, female vocals, exotic themes, and wind instruments remains pretty much unique to my ears. I still don't understand the rationale behind such a project in Ukraine, but if that's the kind of stuff they're able to put out, you can bet I'm not complaining.

Rating: 8.7 out of 10