Finnish four-piece LOST SOCIETY pulls a couple of brave moves on "Braindead," their third album. Having built up a reputation as adrenalin charged Thrash Metallers on their previous records, it's a bit of a surprise when they open with "I Am The Antidote," a noticeably mid-paced track. It's a satisfying curveball of an opener with an effect similar to when SLAYER slowed down for "South Of Heaven" and it's not the only jolt to the system either. At the opposite end of the album is a "California Easy Listening" version of old track "Terror Hungry," a chilled-out number that's reminiscent of sunshine Funk Rock and completely at odds with all the raging that's gone before.

While the album is book-ended by the unexpected though, the majority of it is still straightforward Thrash with one eye fixed on stage diving. There's lots of great musicianship on display and some of it is great fun, so it's a shame that it's not a better album.

See, for all the hype that LOST SOCIETY have enjoyed this sadly never rises above average. Part of this is down to the vocals as frontman Sammy Elbanna has a style, which is difficult to love. Strangely for a Metal singer, it's his screams that are the problem; the bits where he sings in an aggressive yet clean manner are perfectly suited to making these tracks into anthems, but when he screams it's a different story. He sounds uncomfortably close to the Squeaky Voiced Teenager from The Simpsons mixed with a teenage Mille Petrozza having an especially difficult puberty. The shouts are forced, strangulated and seriously damage the power of songs like "Riot" which would otherwise be excellent.

Which is a real shame because LOST SOCIETY has several tracks that could potentially be mini-classics. "Mad Torture" is probably the strongest, a big and ballsy pit-inducer with a call and response chorus, while "Rage Me Up" is a warp speed rampage with excellent guitar work. There's also plenty to like with "Hangover Activator," which is fast enough to raise DARK ANGEL's collective eyebrows, especially in the ludicrously over the top guitar solo that'll have axe aficionados frothing at the mouth.

Unfortunately though, this isn't enough to make "Braindead" into anything more than a passable Thrash album and for all their promise, they're just not as good as the genre leaders yet. It's got a few decent tracks and some excellent musicianship, but Elbanna needs to consider ditching the screams or there's a good chance they'll become a love 'em or hate 'em band.<