Metal Debate Album Review - The Madness Of Dr Ludwig Von Brainmatter (Dead Alive)

The Great Metal Debate Podcast

Welcome back metalheads to a brand new episode of The Great Metal Debate podcast. Its Xander back with a new album review. Today I will be talking about the Nashville based thrash metal band called Dead Alive and this is their sophomore record titled The Madness of Dr. Ludvig Von Brainmatter. The intro track sets the black and white monster movie vibe. That sort of retro feel is most likely what they were going for. That mad scientist and Frankenstein type of classic horror. This of course leads us into our first track "Exhumed" I love how the vocals for this song are a screeching whisper style. Halfway through the song we get a chug guitar riff that will definitely cause involuntary head banging. The next track "Re-Agent", its accompanied by a very well made music video so you should go give it a watch if you haven't already. The pacing of the music in this one has a slower tune but that does not subtract quality at all. If you want a fast thrash metal track, look no further than "Flip The Switch". The bass line played by Dedmen Walken is groovy and it perfectly eases you into this rager of a song. While I was listening to this album in my car the other day I was shouting along to the course. The words "Flip The Switch" will not only get stuck in your head but the non-course parts of the song will remind you a lot of old school Overkill. After that memorable track we have my personal favorite song on this album "Volt". I like this one a lot because it leans heavily into the death trash subgenre. It is without a doubt the fastest song on the record. Deadbeat did a fantastic job pounding away on drums for not just this song but nearly every song on this album. In fact, his abilities really shine on "No Signs of Life" as well. Once again I'm impressed by his drumming skills. "Hollow Man" ... Oh you know what? I actually almost bought that movie the other day from a used DVD store. I'm kicking myself for not but maybe I'll swing by later and dammit, I'm getting off the subject again. Yes, this next song has the same title of that old 2000 flick but I'm unsure if the lyrics have anything to do with the film. The lyrics aren't provided on metal-archives at this time. One song that I think would be awesome played live is "Fear ... Conditioned". The rhythm of it will get people's heads nodding for sure! The song "Gone Mad" surely doesn't disappoint either but after that one, we get the longest song on The Madness of Dr. Ludvig Von Brainmatter titled "From Beyond". The runtime clocks in at just over six and a half minutes. Definitely lengthy for a thrash metal track but as a Kreator fan, it doesn't bother me. Lastly we have "Live Wire" which serves as the perfect closer to this album. Remember how I said this album had a Frankenstein feel to it? Well this one begins with a mad scientist shouting "it's alive". As it should. Electrical shock is essential for reanimating corpses in a castle laboratory. The music itself has a mid-80s thrash metal that is reminiscent of Nuclear Assault. My final thoughts on this album is that it's very solid. Anyone who knows me personally knows that I'm usually quite picky when it comes to thrash metal. But when it comes to this independent release, I feel like their gimmick is useful in the way that it helps them stand out. Of course they are all very talented musicians too. I'll give my buddy and the rest of his band a 7.5 out of 10. The drawback for me is the studio production. Having listened to this album four times in a row, I can tell you that the sound doesn't seem to be as crystal clear as it should. I'm not sure if that was a creative choice to make the recording sound old and less polished. If they were going for the analog/listening to this through a cassette tape on an old boom box then cool. I personally like the sharper and cleaner sound of modernized digital. But I'm sure there are many thrash heads out there who will dig this great album even more than I did.