Pain. Suffering. An epidemic to end the world. Brutal Thrash Metal riffing interspersed with rhythmic instrumental interludes and a taste for bringing weight and heaviness to tracks without losing all sense of melody. These are all things that SEPARATION OF SANITY bring in spades with their latest album. This Oregon-based quintet of musicians move easily from brutal Thrash to more melodic progressive sensibilities at the drop of a hat; which means that "The Crucible" remains fresh and pretty exciting for all of the 13 tracks.

The album opens with an introduction "End of Days", which sets the scene of some sort of apocalyptic event starting with a kind of emergency services phone call, before moving into an instrumental groove which segues straight into the thrash of "Pandemic", the first proper track on the album. While the track has a phenomenally fast main drum groove, the song's guitar riff keeps it grounded. SEPARATION OF SANITY's vocal style is not quite a full scream or growl, but neither is it clean or entirely a Thrash Metal yell. Track 3, "Armed", has a much more groovy feel, and is held at a more bouncy tempo, which truly accentuates the brutality.

"Greed" introduces a second vocalist and a much wider scope to the sound of the band. With a cleaner vocal style and a much more melodic sense it goes along at a slightly slower tempo and incorporates dual guitar solos, which really show off the musicality and songwriting skills at play. The album then returns to the high tempo, high aggression style that "The Crucible" started with. "Grinder" and "The Pact" are two of the longer tracks on the album, both at 5 minutes apiece. "The Pact" offers more variety along with its length, opening with a quieter melody before kicking into the main riff of the song.

The second half of the album continues in the same vein, mixing Thrash and aggression with occasional melodic sensibilities. "The Crucible's" greatest strength is in its variety, which shows that these are more than just your average group of Metal musicians. They add a much broader flavour to the sound of the album and a musicality that is typically largely overlooked in favour of greater brutality. SEPARATION OF SANITY have a great melodic sense and the quitter, more progressive moments are really where the strongest parts of the album lie.