This year sees the return of PYOGENESIS, back with their sixth full-length album called "A Century in the Curse of Time" through AFM Records. This German band was formed in 1991 , and since then have a formidable history behind them, dabbling in a slew of different genres. And with their Death Metal influences, they're not exactly fit beginner material in the Metal scene.

The cover straight away grabs your gaze, and its extravagance and beauty is another reason you don't think of Extreme Metal songs at first. Overall, the production is impeccable and generally, these songs aren't tedious in the least.

The first song - "Steam Paves Its Way (The Machine)" - is the single from "A Century in the Curse of Time" and makes you awestruck with the professionalism and the quality of their work. The instruments are balanced and there's a perfect equilibrium too between the harsh and clean vocals - even for me, who isn't really a fan of this style - yet it's still a pleasure to my ears. The next song is "A Love Once New Has Now Grown Old", which showcases a Punk rock style similar to DEAD KENNEDYS. The drums here are impressive - congratulations to Jan Räthje for his amazing work behind the drums. And of course the chorus is catch and typically Punk. The third is a ballad called "This Won't Last Forever": clean and sweet, this shows Flo Schawarz's versatility. The guitars are cleaner and dare I even say radio friendly. The next - "The Best Is Yet to Come" - is a soft song with almost none of Death Metal's weight, again showing us how to make a competent song mixing a whole of variety of styles. "Lifeless" - the next - keeps up the same approach taken in the earlier songs. With radiophonic songs with good double vocals they conquer my taste!

And the album quietens down the same way. It reminds me a lot of GREEN DAY's "American Idiot". But just with much better musicians playing it. "Century in the Curse of Time" is a fresh album with competent musicians that shows us that Extreme Metal can be sometimes be a bit more radio friendly.