It's been said that time heals all wounds and that absence makes the heart grow fonder. It has also been said that revenge is a dish best served cold, and that you should never deal with a Sicilian when death is on the line.  Well, suppose that a Death metal band (though German, not Sicilian) takes ten years between their first and second album, but the current lineup has been together about half that time. One could not help but think that the new album would be nothing short of sensational, given all the buildup.

Yes, well, with variable numbers we've seen how that's turned out for other bands. Back in October of '21 the return of Groove/Thrashers THROBBING PAIN was a heralded event to the underground metal faithful. When "Rotten Doctrines" finally dropped, what was found was a pivot to a far more Death Metal approach, still slightly groovy, but, in the end, not the powerhouse it should have been. Suffice to say, the most common descriptor in this review's notes comes down to staying in bounds and not doing anything we haven't heard before. Songs like "Sowing Hate" and "P.F.H." are not bad, exactly, but there's nothing to get excited about with them. "The Art Of Evil Revenge" improves on the unfortunately titled track before it, but to what end? Improving on less than average becomes just average.

Standouts from the album are limited to "Psychopathic Butchery" and "Bloodmoon Massacre". Even these, however, for as hard as they lean into it, are only just on the positive side of serviceable for the genre. There's just not much meat to these bones. For Death Metal, "Rotten Doctrines" is rather pedestrian. It's not terrible by any means, as it does in fact hit all the genre hallmarks without failing. There's also a lot to like in production as well, because it doesn't feel like any part of the music is competing for space. But, for all it's doing right, there's so much that just plain isn't being done.

One should be forgiven for thinking there's still time to improve for album three, but given what we've seen so far, will that really be the case? THROBBING PAIN had ample opportunity and a change in personnel, resulting in a genre switch and a change in overall tack. Will that happen again, or will they have a better plan for album three?