I can’t deny this: I fuckin’ love CORONER. I still remember my first approach to the Swiss gods. I was zapping on TV and suddenly the ‘Masked Jackal’ video clip appeared on the screen. It blew my mind! The unorthodox riffing and great solos of Tommy T. Baron, the raspy vocals and fantastic input on the rhythm section of Ron Royce, thanks to his great skills and the energetic and proper drums to this kind of music in the hands of Marquis Marky make this triumvirate one of the most talented and memorable trio in the Metal history. And at last, Noise Records just reissued their fourth offering “Mental Vortex”, the album that opens the doors to some kind of experimentation for T. Baron, Royce and Marky, something that was developed on their next album after this, “Grin”, and the "Coroner" compilation, their last offering before they split-up in 1996. This great full-length kicks off with ‘Divine Step (Conspectu Mortis)’, a well-written Thrash track that sounds fresh enough for 1991, when Death Metal was infecting the underground scene as an uncontrolled virus and the classic Thrash bands were searching for new territories due to this (un)expected phenomenon. This song is the definition of evolution in Thrash: the music is complex and at the same time fast; technical, aggressive, sophisticated and heavy; sometimes progressive, sometimes pure Metal. ‘Son Of Lilith’ and ‘Semtex Revolution’ are both mid-paced tracks, full of great soundscapes, clean guitars, effects and tempo changes. ‘Pale Sister’ is some “R.I.P” and “Punishment For Decadence” oriented stuff because of its faster passages and some neoclassical influences (just hear the ‘Pale Sister’s’ short riff on the third minute), while ‘About Life’ is more into "No More Color" kind of music. If you have never heard this album before, you will be really shocked because the way this album ends. Are you a THE BEATLES fan? Well, those guys covered ‘I Want You (She’s So Heavy)’… and it is great! Few acts can do it damn right and they did it in the best way possible (REALM made an awesome cover of ‘Eleanor Rigby’ as well). On this record CORONER took the word evolution seriously and instead of writing ballads as many Thrash bands at the time (TESTAMENT, METALLICA, ANNIHILATOR, etc.), they wrote another great offering, their last stuff into pure Thrash territories. This is one of the best technical Thrash records from the early 90s along with DARK ANGEL’s “Time Does Not Heal”, HEATHEN’s “Victims Of Deception”, SADUS “A Vision Of Misery”, OBLIVEON’s “Nemesis”, ASPID’s “Extravasation”, BELIEVER’s “Dimensions”, INVOCATOR’s ‘Excursion Demise’, etc. Follow the Swiss gods at www.facebook.com/coronerband. Get yourself a copy or die by my hand: www.noiserecords.net