Sober Truth - Outta hell

This is the second release of this band from Siegburg (Germany) after their debut Riven from 2008. Now in 2009 Sober Truth released Outta Hell and the album sounds like the title says....direct out of hell. The music is not easy to categorize so we let the songs do the talking. Here we go.

The one minute „Introduction Part III“ starts the album. Sounds like if the war is over and the fields are burning. Has the apocalypse begun? The title track starts with a thrash riff. Aggressive shouts meet cleaner, more alternative vocals. The refrain remembers a bit to newer Mercenary. A silent break interrupts that vocal inferno. Slow bass and guitars prepare us for the ultimate showdown. The first guitar solo of the album appears...well played. Double bass drums to follow. Yes, this song is thrash influenced with modern elements. Fast drums and guitars open „My life“. Nice hookline..heavy riffing. Again clean vocals change with shouts. Sometimes the voice of vocalist Torsten Schramm sounds a little weird....in a positive way. The song is held more in midtempo. A bassline in the middle leads to the guitar solo, played with twin guitars. Guitarist Hamid Haghou does a brilliant job, for sure. If this song should reflect my life, it has to be a life in chaos. Great song with a lot of breaks and lots to explore. „Future lies“ continues with thrash meets modern sounds. Sometimes I feel some punk vibes in the music of Sober Truth, so in parts of this song. Excellent drums on Nick Homfeldt pushes this track to a groove monster in the midpart. The hectic atmosphere from the start also ends this song. Following is another one minute intro called „Introduction Part IV“. This time it sounds like the war shouts of street gangs with clapping hands. It leads over to „Soulless“. Drums and bass start....the guitars set in. Hardcore vocals underlined with heavy guitar lines. This could be the sequel to the song Outta hell. The hardest song so far. Another bass intro of Tobias Thauer starts „Leave me alone“. A short guitar harmony changes to thrash riffing. The clean vocals of Torsten Schramm have its very own style and becomes for me the trademark for the band. If this vocals appear you will immediately know that this is Sober Truth. The song again mixes thrash with modern metal. By the way...I don't have the lyrics cause the booklet didn't show 'em. But if I have a look at the artwork, which is really apocalyptic, and what I can hear out, the basic message is extremely negative and cold. That is what the band wants to tell us in their music...and they do it excellent. A new element in the sound of Sober Truth can be found in „I believe“. A very doom start. But only to move over to the well known aggression. The guitars building a machinegun firing in all directions. A wall of sound. The guitar solos are always breathing heavy metal, the rhythms do the thrash. This is definetely the darkest song of the album, it is a doom meets thrash song. „One by one“ begins with acoustic guitars. A ballad? Guitar harmony that follows will make us think of that. But...we failed. The song changes to another thrasher. Some speed metal elements before and after the refrain in the guitar work. The bass and a guitar hook ends it. Double bass opens „Liar“. The guitars are more played in classic heavy metal. Clean vocals, partly whispered and also the chorus leans that song a hymn character. With a thrashy speed note in some parts. But this is the most classic metal style song of the album. Short drum solo in the beginning of „Taste“. The riffing is pure thrash metal. But the refrain is surprising. Chrous vocals held in harmonies. Ok...someone in the background is screaming. Anyway this the most ear catching song. I would say..everyone can sing this song with the band if they are acting on stage...maybe. „Victim“ points with a happy refrain and a high vocal perfomance of Torsten Schramm in the middle of the song. This song tries out a lot of different vocal performances. Chorus, aggressive shouts, clean harmonies. A real old school guitar solo rounds up this unusual song. The last one minute intro „Introduction Part V“, that sounds like a ticking clock in hell, brings us to „Taste (featuring Kim Petras)". Only a piano is supporting the vocal performances of Torsten Schramm and Kim Petras. This song is a dark ballad. Kim, the lady, has a very good warm voice and also Torsten proves that he is a good vocalist too. Well done. In the end there is a funny 1 ½ minute track called „Sober Truth Hymn“. This is not more than a Beatles Yellow Submarine gag with the bands own words. What I understood was „we wanna work for f***ing Sober Truth“ or something else.

I was really surprised about this album. The band is mixing different styles to create their own. And this works really good. For me the vocals give the band their own note and that means that you will ever know that Sober Truth is playing if you hear the voice of Torsten Schramm.

The combination of old and new elements through the world of thrash, hardcore, doom and heavy metal deserves a menue that taste excellent. That was a little surprise for me. And so you get appetite for more.

Sober Truth made it to shine out of the masses of extreme metal music. More please !!

Points:  8/10

review by Kerb

Learn more about this band (click here)