DEATHROW were a Thrash Metal band from Germany, who released 4 full-length albums between 1986 and 1992 and... Have not been heard from since. "Life Beyond", ironically, was their last released album, and has since been reissued on Divebomb Record. To be honest, I have no idea why they don't exist anymore; I can only assume that, like many Thrash/Heavy bands of the time, fell through the cracks of obscurity. On a closing note like "Life Beyond" I, sadly, cannot say that I'm surprised.

I wouldn't go as far as calling it stock-standard Thrash Metal; that's just mean. The band have smashed together a hodgepodge of remotely interesting tracks that I want to call myriad, but that would be to imply heterogeneity. Listening to the album in full seems a little fruitless if you want more than just mindless headbanging (which, admittedly, is difficult due in part to their rampant use of off-tempo riffing). The title track commences the album and starts with an enticing and lengthy section of ominous guitar leads and rips into a technical slab of ruthless Thrash. It's heavy, strong and leaves little breathing room. Eventually, it breaks off into instrumental interludes with some vaguely proggy-sounding grooves; I'm having some lovely reminiscence of INVOCATOR's early material, that is, until it spirals back out into grating incoherency. Incoherency is an even better descriptor of the track to follow. "Behind Closed Eyes". It starts off like a lump of true, blue, honest heavy metal, but spastically tumbles downhill with riffs that don't make sense, lyrics that make almost as little sense, the corniness of which could be derived when/if re-translated. A skip for me.

...Track 3, "Towers in Darkness", was no better.

The next track finally worth mention in a positive light, is "Homo sapiens Superior". In fact, it might be my favourite track on the album; changeability is intelligently used here, with interesting riffs veering almost on the catchy side, and smatterings of proggy timing used tastefully. The guitar work is particularly incredibly as a result; In fact, the technical skill displayed on this album is, without a doubt, incredible. If I have not yet made myself clear, my issue is with the songwriting and flow. However, if you are wont to pick out single songs (like this one) to mosh about with, there are certainly tracks that will do the job for you. Another is "Suicide Arena", with a suitably epic buildup, and a very SLAYER-like vibe to the riffs and leads; while the chorus is particularly weak in the vocals section, is no-doubt a hell of a shout-a-long.

Like I said; I'm not surprised these guys were never heard from again, whatever the reasons were. There are plenty of other excellent bands that we otherwise haven't heard from in a while, or have recently resurfaced; INVOCATOR or DEW-SCENTED respectively. This is the part, of course, where I would be accused of "not getting it". I would suggest, however, to check out DEATHROW's back catalogue to find a gem or two, and keep your eye out for future reissues from this band, for I am not saying they deserved to disappear; circulated metal is better than no metal at all.