Allow me to begin by saying that Sweden's DETHRONE cites their influences as THE CROWN, AT THE GATES, SLAYER, DEFLESHED, and DECAPITATED...and these influences can be easily noted. In fact, DETHRONE does their mentors justice without flat out copying them, which is definitely always a good thing.

The album begins with "Dead Eyes Open" in which vocalist, Mattias Vestlund, lets loose with a punishing scream. This will wake you up much better than any cup of espresso. The riffs that sound almost like machine gun fire makes this first track a pretty exciting number as well. The following track, "Blood Red Dawn" has some very cutting edge and furious moments which literally caused some goose bumps to form on my arms.

There is a slower moment in "Forced Paranoia", which gives you a chance to catch your breath from the full-fledged assault you have been enduring since the beginning of this CD. I advise you to take advantage of it, because it doesn't last long. "Towards The Abyss" starts off rather different from the rest with some slower music and acoustic guitar. Your bleeding ears will get a brief reprieve, but before even a full minute goes by, you are getting beaten and bruised, just as before. Some impressive bass guitar, courtesy of Kenni Ojebrandt , kicks the final song, "When I Decide", into gear.

Thrash and Death Metal fans should find much to appreciate in this brutal package known as DETHRONE. You have relentlessly pounding drums, painstakingly merciless guitar riffs and bass, and last but not least, the forceful vocals that most of us would shred our larynx if we tried to emulate. Each song is explosive and bleeds into one another in a fashion similar to SLAYER.

There were times that my attention span wasn't quite up to the challenge, as the songs do tend to carry on at the same pace throughout most of this CD. But all in all, I would put DETHRONE's "Humanity" on my list of ruthless Metal recommendations.