The Austrian Death Metal group SCARGOD released their third full-length "Krankheit Mensch" on Mar. 1, 2019. The band labels themselves as Progressive, but there are hardly any ties to this genre found within their music. I really don't know where to start with this album, so to make it easy for myself, I'm going to divide this review into two main parts: what I disliked and what I liked.

The biggest flaw on this album is the songwriting. Starting with "6 Million," the song features random moments of acoustic guitars, both of which are unnecessary. They don't sound cool, and they serve no purpose. If you interrupt a riff with a less heavy section and plan on playing the same riff after it, one cannot just play the same riff without any changes. One must add something like a solo or a faster drumbeat or a heavier riff altogether. Make it impactful.

This track also features multiple instances during which the song gains flow only to be interrupted by some lame power chord sequence, a technique that the guitarist should work on forgetting. Every track on here is chock-full of flavorless power chord riff-age that sounds like it's straight from a really bad Heavy Metal or Power Metal record.

Every song with the exception of two has songwriting issues. One example is "Inner Void," a track that features a very tasty, PSYCROPTIC-like riff. However, surrounding this one riff is an atrocity of songwriting as we know it. I don't know where to begin other than the random melodic riff that follows the breakdown. It is not transitioned into. It goes from trying to be heavy to melodic in a snap, only to go right back into the main riff, another moment that lacked a transition.

The biggest problem is, if you couldn't tell already, transitioning. "Contradiction" has an intro that just stops and then the music goes into this lame power chord riff. Are they connected? No. Do they sound anything alike/do they sound like they belong together? Absolutely not. Transitions, or, in some cases, just the removal of some riffs, would fix so many things with this album. If they did that, it might just be decent. Now for the few things about this album that I enjoyed.

My favorite aspect of this album is the occasional technical wizardry the guitarist dabbles in. "Lost" is one of the best showcases of this, but the overuse of the one technical riff in the song makes it lose its touch. "The Enemy Inside" has a very nice array of technicality to it. It is also one of the two songs on here to have good flow. The song starts with this very fast, very jumpy riff that flows into the main riff effortlessly. The technicality in this song helps the album finish strong, which was a good move on SCARGOD's part. This album needed a strong conclusion.

The pinnacle of technical riffs on this release is on "Inner Void". The PSYCROPTIC-like riff I mentioned before is the best moment of the album. However much of a train wreck the song is, it is clear that this guitarist has some serious chops. I would not mind if he started a Technical Death Metal side project. I would definitely listen to that. The other song that has good flow was "Dark Church". This song is very slow and is one of the more boring ones on the album, but it does have good moments. The flow is notable, however, as it is one of the few songs on this album that has it.

SCARGOD has potential, especially with their guitarist. I get the feeling that the guitarist doesn't have enough room to spread his wings fully. If SCARGOD release another full-length, I would want to see their guitarist at full strength. Otherwise, this album is pretty much a giant, practically flavorless songwriting mess.