LOCK UP - Demonization
April 19, 2017, 7 years ago
(Listenable)
When you lose Tomas Lindberg as your vocalist, what can you do besides pick up the pieces and get one of the other great extreme metal vocalists in your band? Which is precisely what Lock Up have done here, recruiting ex-Brutal Truth screamer Kevin Sharp, who does a great job, as always, on this grind/death band's fourth full-length. One of Lock Up's strengths is their ability to switch from hyper grind (see opener “Blood And Emptiness”) to death metal (see second cut “The Decay Within The Abyss”), navigating both with ease.
The incredible resume that the members have between them clearly gives them the experience needed to pull off both sounds, and on Demonization the band sounds as great as ever, with a new, hysterical energy brought on board from Sharp. “Locust” brings to mind Brutal Truth's most crazed moments, a very good thing indeed; “The Plague That Stalks The Darkness” rages fast death with black riffing; “Mind Fight” is pure grind, the kind that any fan of Lock Up, or Brutal Truth, lives and dies for. A killer album, and for fans of Sharp's distinct vocal style (which I most certainly am), Lock Up's best album.
