Hardly there is merely anything that can really surprise me in old school Death Metal. With so many bands out there, even back when it first started crawling in the late 80s, it was bound to be a non-stopping plague. Therefore the raw form of the genre might sound to some people a bit generic and primitive. So what can be done about it if a band still wishes to remain in the old school sphere? Add more genres to the mix probably; at least this is how it was done in the Dutch grinding Death Metallers of MASSIVE ASSAULT. With no mercy and slaughtering kind war tainted scenery, they march with a second full length bearing the title of "Death Strike", via F.D.A. Rekotz. Like a platoon of tanks surging through the open wasteland looking for targets, MASSIVE ASSAULT are on their way and they want trophies for their high motivation. In overall, I think they deserve that kind of recognition as they proved themselves quite well.

So why did I like about a band that has been playing rather the same old stuff when it came to old school molesting Death Metal? Exactly what I wrote earlier, it is about diversity within the older genres of Rock and Metal. Cramping great Death Metal acts as influence like 80s era of BOLT THROWER, DEATH, CANCER, PESTILENCE, ENTOMBED and some kind of SEPULTURA with the Punkish attitude of MOTORHEAD and spills of Hardcore can be a fine prospect indeed. After listening to so many Death Metal bands in last decade, zinging up things can be quite refreshing as well as interesting. The band's riffing is rather down-to-earth and in a way, basic ranging from several of tainted grooves, melodic morbid trills under a most of the way fast forward wild dashes of intense tempos. The vocals weren't bad either, though I would have preferred the mid high growls, the low end grunting of the vocalist made me think of late 80s Carl Willets of BOLT THROWER along with grouchier Lemmy. As for the songs, most of them are above average without too many dull moments. I had a few relapses with some of the monotonic driven rhythms, but I think that the riffing was rather pleasing.

"Dismal Of Life" and "Driven Towards Death" are pure old school Death Metal tunes, on the verge of stepping out of the ordinary template, of the early 90s following both US and EU elements. With slight Thrash crossovers to Death, this one is a really classic ride back time. "Plead Not Guilty" is a continuance of the same old school manner that I would really like to see in the future releases of this band. With the riffages these guys created a heck of an atmosphere of chaos and destruction. If only most bands could do that adequately. Even though this album could have been something greater I still believe it would be a worthwhile purchase for anyone that truly understands the meaning of the essence of good Death Metal music.