STIGMATIZED -

STIGMATIZED - LIVE IN DESPAIR - DISCONCERT MUSIC  
Live In Despair starts off with Terror Age sounding too much like Death and Pestilence. Stigmatized certainly immediately prove the ability to take the listener back to a different era. Terror Age even comes complete with an acoustic interlude and a solo that take the song further into the progressive and melodic and further matching the two aforementioned bands. Obedience Through Ignorance seems like a song title taken from different times as well and the song itself is very much as technical as Human, Individual Thought Patterns and Testimony Of The Ancients. The Eye maintains a high tempo for this German quintet and offers equal doses of heaviness and technicality. War follows in the same vein. Submitted To Illusions has a thrashy start but then seemingly out of nowhere offers growls. The speed and tempo make up and keep the song enjoyable. Crushing Beyond Belief again follows in the same vein perhaps lowering the tempo slightly. Mind Control and its acoustic start is another journey back to the thrash era with a few German influences creeping in. Unseen Force features a bit more death metal while also moving back and forth to the technical. In the title track the band do a good job mixing the technical without sacrificing the tempo. Nation From Beyond achieves the same. Live In Despair may be termed dated and unoriginal but there is enough here to keep those terms being taken as negatives. - Anna Tergel