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REZET
Truth In Between

Metalville (2021)
Rating: 6/10

Arguably one of the most prolific acts out of Germany, Rezet have released a flurry of demos, videos, EPs and albums since their inception in 2004, with Truth In Between being the band’s fifth full-length release.

As expected, it’s another consistently blazing opus that borders on thrash, although to my experienced ears this is heavily (although maybe unintentionally) influenced by an early 90s feel when seemingly more commercial acts such as, say, Skid Row, began flirting with heavier and faster nuances.

The band may not like this, but the opening salvo of ‘Back For No Good’ and ‘Deceived By Paradise’ could easily be tracks from Skid Row’s Slave To The Grind (1991) or Subhuman Race (1995) albums. The pace just doesn’t fizz enough for all-out thrash, but there are certainly flashes of, say, Megadeth, and later years Death Angel with the big yet cold melodies.

In a sense then, although Rezet is a heavy act, to call it thrash would be incorrect. There are also times when the band merges a hard rock stance with a Metal Church or Meliah Rage style, but with less grit or complexity.

The songs are catchy, and ‘Populate. Delete. Repeat’, despite its chugging, could easily have been fronted by Sebastian Bach;. The streetwise smirks of vocalist Richard “Ricky” Wagner are convincing, and yet I almost expect him to suddenly drift off into a more melodic strain because at times this record feels decidedly too modern and sometimes confused.

Elsewhere, ‘Renegade’ is sub-standard, yet polished sleaze rock, ‘Half A Century’ is nifty and one of the thrashiest tunes on offer, ‘Jailpit’ feels like an amalgamation of sleaze ’n heavier, driving metal, while ‘I’m Not Gonna Stop’ takes me back again to that more generic, yet ballsy “hair metal” period.

However, with 13 tracks on offer – including the chugging ‘(Un)certain Crimes’ and slow-building ‘Infinite End’ – there seems to be a lot of clutter. The band are clearly talented, but still, after numerous releases, unsure of their own identity.

They may call it diversity, but for me this album, while packing a punch, is summed up in title and sound by ‘Never Satisfied’ where the posse performs standard hard rock for the glossy, dumbed-down generation, and it’s by this point that the blaze is extinguished and I’m engulfed by coldness.

Sadly, the flame refuses to reignite with thrashy closer ‘The Last Suffer’, which somehow prompts me to flick back to the start of the album, opting for meatier, more authentic solid metal.

I feel that Rezet are exhausting themselves, striving for an identity yet becoming a tad bland. The power is there for the most part, but in between it all the stark truth is that here’s a band with no persona.

Neil Arnold

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