PROTECTOR - Excessive Outburst Of Depravity SLIPCASE CD

Neither viruses at large nor, on a shorter scale, flighty musical trends can stop Protector. In fact, it seems that the thrash veterans have been delivering the goods in a more consistent fashion than ever since their official reformation in Sweden under their original name in 2011.

Band leader Martin Missy tends to agree, seeing his troupe just as strong as it was in the late eighties. “I think all the different line-ups were on the same level, only this one has been together for a longer time than any other – 16 years to be exact, if you want to include what we did under the banner Martin Missy and the Protectors.”

Which leads us to the Teutonic-Scandinavian unit´s new effort “Excessive Outburst of Depravity,” sounding as unmistakably Protector as the creative process was business as usual in an ideal sense. “Everybody wrote riffs on their own, which we then played to each other and turned into songs. I wrote most of the lyrics, but Mathias contributed four, too.”

Speaking of the bass player´s tunes, ´Shackled By Total Control´ has socio-critical undertones whereas ´Pandemic Misery´ is the only track on the album dealing with the plague that is Corona. At the funny end of the spectrum, closer ´Morse Mania´ harks back to ´Caught in a Morse´ from Martin´s 2007 demo with Talion.

Beyond that, the WWII-inspired ´Referat IV B 4´ (“National Socialism was the worst thing ever for Germany and Europe as a whole – never forget!”) and the sinister crawl of ´Open Skies And Endless Seas´ are classic Missy fare, showing the shouter´s unabated interest in mankind´s often belligerent history.

And while the pitch-black ´Toiling in Sheol´ follows hot on the heels of “Summon the Hordes” (2019), the epic melodicism of ´Cleithrophobia´may come as a mild surprise. “I am afraid of getting closed in,”, the front man confesses. “That´s also why we´ll never be able to perform outside of Europe.”

Nevertheless, “Excessive Outburst of Depravity” will enthuse thrash maniacs worldwide thanks to Protector´s sheer down-to-earthness. “I am actually very happy with our current situation”, Missy concludes. “We release an album every three years while staying with our jobs and families. It´s a good arrangement for all of us.”

Andreas Schiffmann