Rejection Overruled
After All
•
August 18, 2015
AFTER ALL released their newest EP, "Rejection Overruled" on July 3rd. For those familiar with the band, I would like to tell you to stop reading right now and buy a copy (but bookmark it for later, of course). There are only 300 copies being printed currently (you might be out of luck by the time this posts!) and they look beautiful. Zombies being wrangled by soldiers clad in hazmat soldiers, a zombie stares into your mortal soul on the green vinyl . But, pretty things aside, I was not familiar with AFTER ALL before hearing this EP and I regret that life choice. I particularly like the vocals, the style like Welsh band FUTURE OF THE LEFT, everything is enunciated very clearly, in spite of the rapid-fire vocal style sung like a more Punk version of NWOBHM or Epic Metal. Now, there are only three tracks on the album and, as the saying goes, "two out of three ain't bad". I didn't really dig the last song, "Land Of Sin", it had less of what I would call a "Thrash factor" than either of the previous tracks, but it's the last track so it's not much of a bother. The other two tracks on the album are solid thrash tracks. The instant "Rejection Overruled" your ears are assaulted with a guitar riff reminiscent of DRI. "None Can Defy" carries the same old-school Thrash theme but the vocals are quite different from the first track. They remind me a bit of MERCYFUL FATE but with more of a Death Metal growl. The EP itself is a preview of their ninth upcoming album, if the art on the EP and the nature of the songs are any clue as to the direction of AFTER ALL's new album.
And if you leave me with only three songs to listen to on a constant loop and some bad ass album art, I'm going to go to some wacky conclusions.From what I've heard, I believe that their new record will be about a zombie uprising from the zombie's perspective. There are a lot of lyrics about unifying under conditions where you are met as a pariah, with extreme prejudice. And while this could be an allegory about how we, average citizens of Earth, should unite against our oppressors, I'm going with zombie unity.<
8 / 10
Excellent
"Rejection Overruled" Track-listing:
1. Rejection Overruled
2. None Can Defy
3. Land Of Sin
After All Lineup:
Sammy Peleman - Vocals
Christophe Depree - Guitar
Dries Van Damme - Guitar
Fredric "Fre" Vanmassenhove - Bass
More results...