This band from England sounds exactly like a PANTERA wannabe at first, or at least as one of the many gang living under the sonic affectation of Dimebag & Co, but the final taste is much better than that! They use and abuse of each and every element of PANTERA's trademark ingredients and gimmicks, the hypnotic riffage, the breakdowns, the multi layered vocals, the ultra-compressed triggered kick drums, even the vocabulary is borrowed to Anselmo ("Scarred For Life")... But to me DEF CON ONE sounds definitively English, even if they try their best to hide this fact (in the last part of the great opening track "H8 Ball" notably) but you can't change your DNA, because obviously the pace flow isn't in the same vein, much more European, rhythmically tight but too square ("Broke" / "Damned Disgrace"), not exactly what I call Groovy.

However for this second official album, DEF CON ONE tries really hard to reach this level of excellency (by the way totally unreachable imho) and addictive magic owned by the "Cowboys From Hell", helped by a great production and a most of all, a fine vocalist with a great polyvalence, and a wide range, Davey Meikle that spits with a credible anger those words of hate & rebellion, impress as they are perfectly in-tune with the genre displayed, and this complementary singing/screaming concordance is the best I heard since Jason Bragg (ex-PISSING RAZORS) amazing performance for KILL DEVIL HILL's 2013 album "Revolution Rise" (featuring Former PANTERA / DOWN bassist Rex Brown...). It ultimately remains in my mind a lot like the "Menace to Society" album published by fellow compatriots KILLERS (fronted by the legendary Paul "the beast" Di'Anno) or DEARLY BEHEADED and this underrated band also highly influenced by the Texas Almighty foursome: Rob Halford's FIGHT, so it's like a vicious circle of who had influenced who.  Another specificity of DEF CON ONE, is the pedigree of some of the crew members, in fact the drummer Antton is the brother of legendary Cronos aka Conrad Lant from Black Metal precursor VENOM but he's also acted as drummer with the ex-VENOM controversial dissident act: M-PIRE OF EVIL... Family internal affairs.

Anyway, my prime enthusiasm was subdued in some degree by the middle part of this recording, the main problem with this kind of album is that after two furious song, the traditional softened number ("Die Again") and a few darkened songs, the things are getting somehow a little more ordinary like a worn routine and the surprise effect isn't working as well as in the early cuts.

Finally, I will say that the untamed British spirit is present under the specter of this Hardcore heritage and the slightly Punkish smell ("Skinhead Shaped Dent" / "Need A Reason") more than any Southern flavor indeed Newcastle isn't Dallas, however this album is recommended for any Nostalgic of the hybrid kind of Metal once very popular in the mid 90's.