Metal Underground.com

Sometimes, I think we metalheads get a little too wound up with classifying things by sub-genre. Such-and-such band is "metalcore," while another is clearly "melodic death metal." Then, along comes a band like Beissert, and one finds oneself trying to think of a genre that would fit, and inventing names like "psychedelic-thrash-doomcore," and realizing that regardless of what you call it, this is one of the more interesting listens you'll hear all year.

The German band's press kit basically spells out the band's influences, noting that the album is a "witches' cauldron filled with elements of metal, doom, hardcore, stoner, noise and a lotta rock." That's about it, except for mentioning that sometimes, you hear all of those things within the same song.

The opener, "The Pusher," for example, opens with a thrashy, Pantera-esque guitar line, with singer Beissert doing his best Phil Anselmo shout, before transitioning into clean vocals. Then, after a blistering solo comes a quiet, gentle interlude, followed by more angry Pantera-inspired screaming and shredding.

Then, the galloping "Die Dunkelheit Uns Mit Sich Nimmt" reminds one of Black Label Society, complete with Southern-fried guitar and pinch harmonics. But, just when you're rocked out, the band follows up with the quiet, beautiful piano instrumental "Die Fabelhafte Welt Der Agonie."

The album really hits its stride with the superb "Uphillfight Against The Sun," which has a Zakk Wylde meets the Foo Fighters feel, with guitarist Boldog managing a heavy-but-sunny guitar part that works much better than it should. "Durch Die Haare In Das Kind," with its "woo-hoo" vocals and high bass part, works in the same way.

On the downside, a couple of the longer tracks don't work very well. They're perhaps a bit over-ambitious. "Unaussprechliche Kvlten," for example, takes far too long to get into the meat of the song. A superb solo and some unique instrumental twists come too late in "Gedanke & Erinnerung." Also, the production is a bit tinny for my tastes on most of the tracks, resulting in a flattened-out sound.

Beissert's "The Pusher" will hook listeners with doses of light melody and heavy brutality. Though flawed by some overly long tracks and production issues, it's still one of the more interesting listens I've experienced this year.