Copyright © 1988 Steamhammer
1. Age Of Agony
2. True Lies
3. Confession Of Madness
4. Hatred
5. Interludium (Begging For Mercy)
6. Prophecy
7. Memories Of Tomorrow
8. I, King. Will Come
9. The Final Deluge
10. Epilogue
11. The Gnome
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Only in a genre with such self-confidence problems as metal has could a band be praised merely for being able to play their instruments correctly, but with Mekong Delta that seems the case. Listless, repetition-heavy speed metal riffs chug along while a vocal swings out hooks and then drops into a flat neo-atonality that seems popular with doom bands like Candlemass but here is less artful. True to the form of anything influenced by power metal, this band has an incredible tolerance for repetition, as if they expect their fans to be at average IQ, drunk and distracted when listening. There are some great riffs that introduce songs, and some of the guitar work on this is to die for, but to find it requires waiting through a procession of boring riffs, tedious vocal lines and anemic drums. Typical songs begin with a melodic introduction that harmonizes itself to the point where it has defined upper and lower register ranges for the song to come; then riffs drop into sequence, hammering along with a chord change, then repeated strumming, then a change or two more before an even-intervalled chord progression or rhythmic hook ends the bar. Over this the theatrical vocals prance, whine, squirm, kvetch and point, but the model on which this music works is not indigenous to metal but to rock music; in fact, one might summarize this band as being a Queen tribute with punkish riffs executed in a technical style. And so dramatic! All of the melody is in the song; guitar is accompaniment, and guitars do not follow the "metal style" introduced by Black Sabbath of uses phrases of power chords, but like a rock band are based solely on holding rhythmic place for a fixed tone. Undeniably this band has more talent in its little finger than most death metal bands do collectively, but it lacks one tenth of the artistic wisdom as it communicates nothing except detachment and guitar noodling unrelated to any process of life except being distracted.
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