Back from a brief sojourn into Roadrunner country, Victory's franchise band has come home bearing more gifts of humane passion and social metaphor, this time accompanied by startling musical innovation. Karl Buechner, apparently humbled and groomed, has lost his generic tuff guy bark, and has replaced it with heavy metal wail (see Black Sabbath circa Ozzy) and even-handed, mature yet still believable and violent, growl. Always pioneers of metal evolution, the licks on Slither ride on tripped beats, erratic break downs, and choruses that actually delve into hook. The contrast in song arrangement is a bit confusing, and this album as a whole is definitely not the pure pummelfest one might expect. Cliché as it sounds, it is almost like two personalities battling each other from song to song, a reflective, somber side at war with an enraged superego. This can be interesting at times, but some songs seem to wander into whimsy just a tad too much, even to the point of being boring. However, when they come back next track chugging they shine. Not to say that they can only chug and crunch and posture. Earth Crisis definitely have more legitimate depth than that, it could be just that some songs were stretched out a bit too far. That is really the only negative facet of the album, though, and resides in but a fist-full of tracks. For the most part, Slither rocks enlightened style. Nice, quirky production effects, beautifully layered vox, simple yet intelligent, imaginative lyrics, strong drum work, and cool artwork add a lot. Turn it up real loud to get the full effect.
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