Metalcore is not my genre. Years ago, when I first started experimenting with more extreme genres of music, I certainly dabbled in the genre, but never felt at home. However, I still defend the genre against it's naysayers, as it is a wonderful gateway to vast new horizons of extreme music. Please remember readers that whilst the likes of ASKING ALEXANDRIA, ATTACK ATTACK, and  IWRESTLEDABEARONCE are indeed painful, there were some occasional gems. Artists like ARCHITECTS and PARKWAY DRIVE particularly impressed with their earlier works, and these are the artists MEDIOKRIST embody the most. Whilst only hinting at the quality of these bands, MEDIOKRIST do show the ability to think outside the box. Unfortunately, this potential is only faint, as more often than not, safe generic Metalcore is chosen over doing something truly inventive.

This potential is made immediately clear with opening track "Eleos". In itself, this track is inconsequential. It is a short instrumental track mostly concerned with filling up space, never really building up to the true songs. However, as with the other instrumental tracks "Phobos" and "Omen," this track is electronic only. The fact that these excellent electronic sections are never allowed to develop or to be integrated into the band's Metalcore sound, is a travesty. It makes these electronic moments seem pointless, and they only harm the band. This is because these moments make the listener expect a dynamic and varied album, only for them to be disappointed by monotony. Nowhere is this loss of true potential more apparent than in the title track "Traumwelt". Opening with beautiful synths, ripped straight from an episode of Stranger Things or an old John Carpenter movie, a wonderful mood is instantly created. The mind is filled with ideas and colors immediately, so when all of this is abruptly cut off for standard Metalcore, of course the listener is going to be left disappointed.

Other than the disappointment aroused by glimpses of such potential, this truly is a listenable record, but never really a memorable one. Other than the groove intensive "Katharsis" and the vitriol of "Spiegel," nothing really stands out. This isn't to say the music is bad, it just feels sterile. Every riff here has been heard a million times before and from the first chord, you can predict every single note. There is no surprise here. No unique selling point. No individual voice. The passion of these musicians for the genre they play is palpable, but this certainly feels like a group of fans, rather than musicians. Choruses feel tacked on and unimaginative, simply stitched to the mass, in an attempt to ape their role models. Never stopping to question whether it truly serves the song.

With a reassessment of their priorities, MEDIOKRIST could definitely go somewhere within the world of Metalcore. However, for them to truly ascend to the levels of their own heroes, they need to discover what defines them. Nobody needs another ARCHITECTS, because we already have them. What we need is something new, and MEDIOKRIST just aren't that in this current fetal form. Instead, with the album presented to me, all I can say is that MEDIOKRIST are mediocre.

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