Imagine what would result if CORONER and PSYCROPTIC collaborated for one album. You would probably get "Cold Logic" by SHARDS OF HUMANITY, the Technical Death/Thrash Metal record that is topped with a few Progressive and even Jazzy sections.

"Cosmic Shield" introduced the record with impeccable songwriting, killer hooks and fierce riffs, and it was just the instrumental introduction. What followed was even tastier: the technical riff salad that was "Martyr's Gaze." With this first full track, the band displayed their ability to write congruent and fierce Thrash that took from both old school and modern bands.

The record did not see the same level of technicality until the last three tracks, creating a sort of power vacuum in the middle. In fact, the high-octane riffs of "Martyr's Gaze" set a high bar for the rest of the record to live up to, and while the music was spectacular, there was still that lacking in technicality in the very middle.

Because of this, the album was like a rope bridge. It started out strong, sagged a bit, but it attained the same level - if not a higher level - as it had at in the beginning. "Docile Masses" introduced the Progressive side of the band. The track featured Jazzy riffing that was fast and complex as it was catchy.

"Demonic Crystallized Intelligence" reached new heights. Within just three and a half minutes, the song journeys from slow Death Metal riffing to the album's most epic solo. It was as if WATCHTOWER and CYNIC had a child; it had atmosphere while an epic solo soared over top. Finally, the album ended with "Mechanical Phosphene," the grand finale and the cherry on top. It was the technical, layered, adrenaline-filled Thrasher that the album needed to close it out.

While the album had a middle lacking in technicality, I think it worked out perfectly. The structure was not something that was bad, in fact, it made the ending as epic as it was. If anything, Shards of Humanity wrote the perfect Technical Death/Thrash record. It was not as hyper as SIEGES EVEN, but it was not as "tame" as REVOCATION. It was the perfect in-between.