1995 (Released on CD in 2001) 1. Slavery to Death * 2. Neurasthenia * 3. You * 4. No Mercy * 5. Languish # 6. Last Breath Elegy (They’re killing us too….) # 7. The Kind of Judas # 8. Titanic End # * Recorded at Soprano Studio, Calcutta in January 2000 # Recorded at Presto Studio, Calcutta in December 1995 All tracks remastered at Throatlatch Studios, Bombay in May 2001 Cranium is a thrash metal band from Bombay, India. No Mercy, which I think is their only full-length studio recording, was released way back in 1995 (not sure, never saw the tape in stores, but It was recorded then); the first 4 tracks were later re-recorded in 2000, and the whole album was remastered onto CD at Throatlatch studios in 2001, a recording studio/company owned by Ranjan (Guitars/Vocals) of Cranium itself. Produced by Cranium, predominantly by Ranjan himself, it is obvious that Ranjan’s production skills were below mediocre then and haven’t improved by much 7 years later. The proof of this statement lies in the production values seen in recent releases like the Deepthroat compilation and Metakix’s Headlines album. Before I get into how amateurish the music on this release is, I would also like to mention how surprising it was to see that the re-recorded songs, production-wise, sounded worse than the songs that were left as they were. The basic fundas and concepts of "recording sound" are missing, the individual levels are all wrong and in most part the sound is stunted and incomplete. This is not to say that the music on this album would sound much better to me if the production was halfway adequate, or even if it was excellent. Cranium, in my opinion, play very clichéd, halfhearted, mechanical thrash metal. This is the kind of thrash that is better off the way it is now – dead. No Mercy is almost 40 minutes long, and hosts 8 tracks, most of which are much too long to keep these ears engaged. Cranium’s songwriting abilities are nowhere near satisfactory and all that finally ends up coming out of the speakers is badly produced, monotonous pseudo-thrash with awful vocals and appallingly simpleton drumming. The basic structure of songs like Slavery to Death and Neurasthenia is so workmanlike that even if the music was decent, the songwriting would render the final output as utterly boring. "Slavery to Death" has plainly horrendous riffing and is covered with the Indian ‘plonk-bass’ syndrome. Ranjan’s vocals, during this song, as well as the rest of album, sound not only out of place, but clearly substandard and musically vulgar. Vocally, Jose (Bass/Vocals) does a considerably better job, but his gruff throaty chants don’t help enough to save "Neurasthenia" or You. The songs suffers in the same areas as the last, though this time drummer Chintu has come up with especially tepid drum rolls and stick work. The section with growl vocals sounds too much like an inferior Far Beyond Driven-era Pantera, with its stupid groove riff. There apparently wasn’t much music written on this as the first three songs sound like a 3-part single song, without many differences. "Neurasthenia" leads to "You" which is just the gruff Pantera-esque blab done all over again, this time repeatedly, in a more straightforward manner. However, this song contains one of the better leads and riffs (the second one) of the album. There isn’t even a vague feeling of flow or basic musical chemistry; mostly dull fare, played with an expendable sense of spirit. The double-bass work is either hidden or visible in cardboard form! Dumb song titles like The Kind of Judas (ehhh????) lead only into tedious thrash arrangements, made to sound lame due to the production and nauseating due to the vocals. Though the last song, Titanic End (stupid title!), does attain a nice groove-thrash feel (although not by international standards) and contains fairly competent lead work, this is all this song manages to attain. The rest is the usual ennui and a blend of piss-poor clichés, complete with horrifyingly muddy production and turn-off vocal lines. Simply put, in my opinion, this is badly played, badly produced, badly written and very poorly delivered music. Everything in the album isn’t terrible, but none of it touches the category of grab-you-by-the-balls good. Parts of the title track, with its beautiful acoustics and surprisingly effective folk-style singing, do come as relief. These parts actually remind me Elegy-era Amorphis and a lot of Opeth material. Sadly, this song too is marred with negatively ugly thrash riffs and outwardly hilarious shout vocals. With the title track and songs like Languish and Last Breath Elegy, Cranium almost sound fine but their apparent lack of drive and focus just ruins everything. "Languish" does have some nice layered riffing and decent guitar-bass interplay, woven together with a considerable level of flow. However, as I approach the vocals, even the growling, and realize how monotonous this 5 minute piece really is, I immediately skip track or stop the CD, without even bothering with a guitar lead that is somewhat well-written. A bad vocal Dave Mustaine (Megadeth) impersonation and the long length (6:47 minutes) of "Last Breath Elegy" wreck something that could have been an extremely good song and the only remote hope for this release. The mid-paced riff, which beautifully moves back and forth, a well executed solo and the not-so-bad drum work provide the best music in No Mercy. However, after a couple of listens, all this ends up being is an inferior Megadeth. The forced "grind" parts and superficial laughter don’t help matters either. Lyrically, I imagine the album deals with topics of war, death, religion and the usual rest, although the delivery is unclear and doesn’t grab me one bit. What is left to say? I do appreciate the fact that Ranjan has tried to help the Indian metal scene, but I cannot even tenuously bring myself to appreciate his band’s music. It does not conjure emotions in any form, and is exceedingly uninspiring and dry. I will end by proclaiming that everything on this album is way better than Cranium’s song "Pariah" on the Deepthroat compilation! (1.5/5) P.S.: Cranium’s official website – http://cranium.faithweb.com. If you actually are a fan of the band and would like to join their "Cracks" club – http://crackhouse.faithweb.net