Released by: Mausleum Records
Release Date: February 15th, 2013
Genre: Heavy Meta/Trash Metal
Links: http://www.tauntedmusic.com/
Line Up:
Jacques Serrano – Vocals
Joey Genoni – Guitar
Matt Gower – Guitar
Elena Repetto – Bass
Larry Howe – Drums
Tracklist:
1. Seven Colors
2. Laceration
3. Written In The Flames
4. Dead Roll
5. Room 237
6. Sinners Language
7. Tower Hellions
8. Chaos Theory
9. Taunted 2
Four years since their last offering “Bleeding Black”, San Francisco thrash group, Taunted are back with their third full length record, “9 Sins”. Although Taunted have recently celebrated their 20th anniversary, they never released their full length debut “Zero” until 2006. The record was very well received, and became the best-selling record on CD Baby. The sophomore record, “Bleeding Black” was released in 2009, also to rave reviews. Now we have album number three, I’ll admit that I am not too familiar with Taunted’s back catalog, so I won’t really compare how it stands next to its predecessors, just how it stands as an album. The record was self-produced, the band’s main songwriter, Joey Genoni is credited as the producer, while the rest of the band receive co-production credits.
The band was originally formed in 1992, and has a very classic thrash sound, as one would expect from a band hailing from a time when thrash was at what some would argue to be at its peak of popularity. As their influences, Taunted calls on bands such as Slayer, Overkill and Pantera as their pools of inspiration, and you can hear these influences in the music. The guitar work is hard and heavy, the lyrics are dark, and the rhythm section – particularly the drumming – is solid, providing a strong foundation and beat for the music. The biggest highlight, however, is Jacques Settano’s vocal performance, the range in his voice is truly impressive, over the course of a song, you can often hear him go from a deep growl to a high-pitched scream and back in a few notes.
The nine tracks that make up the record are very diverse in sound, some stand out more than others. Although, if I were to describe their overall sound over the course of the record, I would say 60% of the material would fall into thrash and speed metal, maybe 30% of the material is more in tune with power metal, and 10% melodic metal. The melodic side really shows up in some of the choruses, which are generally delivered well.
On a scale of 1-10, I would say that Taunted’s 9 Sins record deserves a 7. I say that because although the musicianship on this record is quite good, I feel it falls a bit short of being a truly standout record. 9 Sins doesn’t really have much in the way of low points to speak of, but it doesn’t quite have as many highs as I would have liked either. This is just one of those records where the band has a good sound, in this case, it’s a dark, heavy and intense thrash metal sound, and they mostly stick to it. While most of the songs are diverse enough to stand out from one another, there just aren’t many of those truly memorable moments either. The definitive tracks, I’d say are “Laceration”, “Written in the Flames” and “Sinners Language”, give these a listen, if you want more like these, than this record is definitely worth checking out. 9 Sins is a solid fix of thrash metal, not much more, and nothing less.
Written by Connor
Ratings Connor 7/10
About Author
