Now this sounds like a proper melting pot of Death Metal! Hailing from Hamburg, Germany, this bunch has just released their second album. Following a mid-tempo intro, the record does not exactly take prisoners: nine fast neckbreakers and one slower song make up a nice violent package. Loads of classic extreme Metal influences are shining through here, with the Death Metal bits prevailing over some Thrash ones for the most part. To be fair, I’m hearing predominantly Death Metal here! It’s of the melodic kind, though; although MESSTICATOR clearly show that they know how to work their gas pedal (check out the drumming in the aptly named ‘…The Pitslayer’, for example!) their lyrics remain comprehensible and the band does not drift off towards Grindcore. Instead, ‘…The Pitslayer’ and ‘One-Shot-Kill’ in particular remind me of MORBID ANGEL and VADER (perhaps also a bit of ASPHYX), whereas ‘Ruins Of Reason’ seems to be pointing towards (old) IN FLAMES or AT THE GATES, given its melodic guitar runs and other instrumental passages. ‘One-Shot-Kill’ and ‘Bloodsport’ are the more thrashy songs of the album, citing THE HAUNTED, a major influence for the band. Then again, it is hard to clearly differentiate between styles, a fact that might have to do with the background of the band members: all of them are very experienced, and the list of their former bands includes all facets of the extreme Metal spectrum, especially Thrash, Death, Grindcore and Metalcore. The last song ‘Cougar Claws (Return Of The Leathermilf)’ picks up on the ‘Leathermilf’ character from the first album again, showing the humorous side of the band after all this serious and violent extreme stuff. They know how to do it, and they do it really well: MESSTICATOR come across as a hard-working and versatile band on this album. Be sure to catch them on tour, too – they play some shows in the spring of 2026! www.facebook.com/messticator, www.facebook.com/testimonyrecords