Antidote - Mind Alive (1996)

The third and final act of Antidote's career, Mind Alive, is another evolution into a more modern sound, though once more the band had not entirely abandoned their thrashing roots. The album does have a good share of weak tracks, but I was quite surprised to find that the band's better writing here is of the melodic variety, and not the heavier edge that made their first album so good. There is a lot of progressive rock influence to the record, which was first bearing its teeth on Total, but comes into full fruition here, manifesting through the bass, guitars and even perhaps a little Jon Anderson influence in the vocals. I might be reaching a little to that comparison, but I do detect it on certain tracks, even though Nino doesn't work in the same range.

Most of the problems on Mind Alive, when and where they do occur, stem from the songwriting. Many of the tracks here are simply not that ambitious nor are they memorable. Like Total before it, the album has an extremely polished production which robs many of the heavier moments of their potential power. Nino Laurenne has once again altered his vocal approach, and it's difficult to believe this was even the same singer from The Truth. Here he sounds like he's fronting a prog metal band, and in fact...he probably is. I would say that overall the production of Mind Alive is superior to the previous album, from a professional standpoint. The guitars and drums are radio clean, the vocals are at their most melodic and tranquil of Antidote's history.

The mediocrity begins with the title track, which arrives and departs without much concern. A groovy thrash rhythm opens the track, and some tiny melodic guitars shine for a few brief seconds, but then it becomes formulaic, with dull acoustics to carry the vocals back to the metal rhythm. The vocals are really melodic, and perhaps a little too safe here. "Fall With Disgrace" begins with a network of crisp guitars, and then a charging, almost power metal rhythm. The vocals again feel secure and sterile, but the bridge is pretty and this is sadly one of the stronger pieces on the album. "The Aggressor Within" sounds muddy by comparison, with some pretty dumb groove riffs that raised my expectations for a Zakk Wylde or Phil Anselmo guest appearance. Alas, this did not happen, the track gets a little more thrashy, and Nino's accent makes the word 'aggressor' sound endearing, but not the song. Fortunately, "Icon of Hate" almost returns the band to its roots, with a solid thrashing and some melodic vocals. I wonder why Antidote didn't just write the whole album in this vein? The song is memorable, especially the vocals, and might be the best they've written since The Truth. "Dying to Be Dead" is a slow, balladic track which evolves into a crawling thrash. The music is rather underwhelming, but Nino does carry it forth from oblivion with his singing.

"Wallow in Vice" ignites with a Pantera-like swaggering rhythm, and really does not pick up until the 2:00 point, where there is a fairly catchy vocal hook. Otherwise, skip it for the brief and thoughtful acoustic interlude "Bridges", which introduces "In the Land of Nod", a solid if unmemorable track. "Masked Dance" is another song with groovy, simple thrash rhythms that just can't carry it, leaving the rest to Laurenne's vocal charms, which simply don't suffice. "Attitude" is a screamer, sounding much like the band's early years, but it just barely breaks a minute. What exactly was the problem, was the band afraid to go back to being good? Even in a minute's time, this song kicks most of the record straight in the ass. "Books of the Moon" is a slower track, but builds a pretty powerful atmosphere with a minimal thrashing. The last nail in the coffin.

Viewed comparatively, Mind Alive is the worst effort from Antidote, and the band did not end on a positive note. Certain tracks could be cannibalized from this release and combined with the better parts of Total to create a decent EP, and we'd all be better off for it. Aside from "Icon of Hate", the painfully short "Attitude" and possibly "Fall With Disgrace", there is nothing here that I would willfully listen through again. Though it was the finale for this band, it was not so for the members. Nino Laurenne and bassist Titus Hjelm (who had replaced Pete Peltonen here) would later create the band Thunderstone, and drummer Mikael Arnkil would later do time in Sinisthra, and is currently a member of the great Impaled Nazarene (where he plays bass).

Highlights: Icon of Hate, Fall With Disgrace

Verdict: Indifference [5.5/10]

Antidote - Total (1994)

I am not an opponent of change in a band's sound, provided that change reflects a willingness to grow, evolve, and improve. I'm sure Finland's Antidote thought they were doing those very things when they released Total. No stranger to horrible album art, they have outdone themselves with this one...which looks like some reject that Triumph or Journey decided not to use after all, or some lost fragment of 70s modern disco deco. As for the sound, the band comes across as more mature on this album. More restrained. Even laid back. But as we are about to discover, this is not always a positive, especially when you are following up an album like The Truth, which lived and died on its viral accessibility and pounding steel rhythms.

The biggest difference on this record would be the vocals, which are still Nino Laurenne, but he's lost a lot of the low end grizzle that he used on The Truth. Most of the singing on the album is a laconic, melodic mid to higher range, but he'll still bust out the howls, only here they sound more like Peavey of the German legends Rage. There are still good riffs to be found on Total, and in fact, a few of them are excellent. But I really wish that the band had cut loose more in the production here, because a few of the songs sound a little too sterile and polished, and might have benefited from some chaos.

In retrospect, "Cold" may not have been the best way to start the album. It's a pretty boring track, not putting the band's best foot forward. Later, when Laurenne emits some of his siren-like Rage wails, the track begins to warm up, and the solo section is decent. But the major riffs driving the verse sound far too restrained, and the drums sound too poppy and lifeless. "Woe Betide Them" is more successful, opening with a playful, folksy melody that transforms into a Prong-ish thrash groove. The drums crash a little more, and Nino's got some edge to his voice here like the debut album. The chorus has some great backing vocals, and the solos are great, before the band busts back into that opening melody. Easily one of the Total highlights. It is unfortunate, then, that the next track, "Life is a Lie", is a garbled mess. It starts off with some screeching guitar feedback, then a deep rhythm that might have worked if they built it into the drum groove, yet they fuck around with it and we are treated to another of the band's decent dual melodies, before falling apart into a rhythm that sounds part cheap Pantera garbage and part Prong groove. Nino's vocals range from Peavey to Hetfield on this one, and while there are a few interesting points later in the track, like a nice, easy lead and a cool vocal/backing vocal interplay bridge, the song could have been a lot better with the weaker elements chopped out.

"Rain" crawls along at a doomed gait, and if Nino didn't often belt out a brash vocal line here or there, I would hardly be able to tell this is the same band, but the song does have a decent melody in place of a solo, and it's far from the worst here. "Multiverse" enters with the same, slowed pace as "Rain", but the riff here is very much like a slowed Metallica, as are the verse vocals, and the rest of the track is pretty interesting, pensive and drawn out thrash metal which definitely supports the title. "My Million Years" has Pete Peltonen plodding below another, basic thrash chug that transforms into some churning grooves and then a nice, old school metal riff below a melodic guitar. Basically, whenever the track lays off the far too simplified central chug, it gets quite good, like the screaming guitars in the distance at the 3:00 mark. The rhythms that introduces "You Medicate" sounds like outtakes from The Black Album, but the song picks up and it's another of the better pieces on the album.

"Slowmotion" uses a guitar like an air raid siren over a groove metal rhythm, then breaks into a bizarre verse with Peltonen's bass wandering about, briefly summoning up a comparison to Mekong Delta. The bass work and the guitar effects throughout the track are pretty engaging, especially at 2:45, but the rhythms below are mediocre. "Life Recall" has another Beg to Differ-style rhythm that chugs along into a hardcore groove, and Laurenne again uses some of his Hetfield tones. As a whole, the song is unusual, but one of the worst here. "Into the Dreamside" competes with "Woe Beside Them" for 'best of show', with some emotional vocals similar to the first album, and great melodic guitar work throughout.

Total is an hour of peaks and valleys, as Antidote seems to struggle for an identity. There are many interesting ideas, and this album could be labeled 'progressive thrash' without offense, but not all of them succeed. I believe that there are enough worthwhile moments for a fan of The Truth to at least listen once, but the album is less cohesive than that predecessor, an inferior product in all categories. If this had been an EP, with "Woe Beside Them" and "Into the Dreamside", and the rest of the songs chopped up and reconfigure into two more, good songs, I would give this a passing grade, but as it stands, it just isn't something I'll revisit.

Highlights: Woe Beside Them, Into the Dreamside

Verdict: Indifference [6.75/10]

Antidote - The Truth (1992)

Most thrash bands arriving in the year of 1992 were doomed from the start, as the genre had taken a spin towards the more meat headed 'modernization' of bands like Pantera and Machine Head, and many fair weather metal fans packed their bags and headed out to pasture with the grunge and alternative music that was becoming all the rage. Yet still, there was a residual string of signings and output from thrash and speed metal bands, many trying to adapt to the times with funk, hardcore, death metal, or whatever else would keep them afloat and earn a few packs of cigarettes. Finland's Antidote, who had formed 6 years earlier, finally got their debut album, The Truth, out at this time through Shark records, and at least for this offering, they were pretty much pure thrash, with a sound somewhere between earlier Artillery and countrymen Stone.

The big, forceful guitar tone on this record sounded to me like the mark of a band ready to roll up to a gig in their 18 wheeler, unpack their equipment from heavy steel containers and then grind up a crowd. Really, of their three albums, this one remains the best sounding today, holding up a little better than fellow Finn 'A' thrashers A.R.G. or Airdash. Nino Laurenne's vocals on the album were at their most wild and infectious. He's hunting high and low, with a higher rasp not unlike Flemming Ronsdorf, or Chuck Billy when he used to scream more; and a lower growl that, at one point, flies off the hinges into death metal territory. The nine tracks of The Truth are dynamic and strong, and any thrasher looking for a genuine bite of late 80s dementia outside the Bay Area or German styles could enjoy this.

"Symphony of Death" features a few seconds of swelling orchestration with samples of wind and evil grumbling, before the loud and present bass begins popping into the guitar rhythm. A breakdown groove later, the band erupts into a slow rhythm (very similar to Pestilence's "Chemo Therapy") and then Laurenne's stressful tone pours over the mix like wet concrete. The leads here are wild and fun, and the rhythm behind rocks pretty hard. "Within His Power" starts with rolling mutes below a twangy, chorused clean guitar, then charges into a nice rhythm reminiscent of Destruction's more surgical work. The lead-in to "Act of Violence" has some really cool, if depressive, acoustics, working into a brief march and then some of the most energetic riffing on the album. Nino's on fire, with a great lower range over the verse and then letting the throat rip open for the bridge. But the opening volley of "Melancholia" is probably the musical peak for the entire effort, with a pair of kick ass, flowing speed rhythms that break for an excellent, restrained thrashing in the verse.

Aside from the catchy lead breaks late in the track, "3rd Time in Greenland" was not one of my favorites on the album, but "Rosemachine" more than makes up for it with a bluesy, grooving rhythm that picks up steam and shatters into another half dozen great riffs. The "Grandiloguent Passaway" saunters forth with a fist shaking, the vocals dark and morose, with a cool chorus very reminiscent of the earlier Testament. "Subordinated People" clenches some great mute picked melodies, and Antidote save one of the better songs for last, "Spaced Out", with its loud thrumming bass and pounding rodeo thrash, and more of Laurenne's Chuck-Billy howls, and an evil Slayer-like climax riff.

Four or five years earlier, these Finns would have been off to a great start and this record might have had a larger impact internationally. There were probably enough thrashers still kicking about (in Europe, at least) to shower it with some affectations, but obviously it was not successful enough for Antidote to stick strictly to this formula. I would certainly recommend The Truth to a fan of old school Testament (The Legacy, The New Order), Artillery (Terror Squad, Fear of Tomorrow) and also Lääz Rockit, Stone, Metal Church, and Reverend. It shoots from the hip, it still sounds good today, and probably deserves a minor cult status, which I am now giving it!

Highlights: Act of Violence, Melancholia, Subordinated People, Spaced Out

Verdict: Win [8/10]