Braindead

Audio Mixer: Nino Laurenne.
Recording information: Sonic Pump Studios, Helsinki, Finland.
The third studio long player from the Finnish thrashers, the Nuclear Blast-issued Braindead finds Lost Society both tightening up and branching out. 2014's Terror Hungry was a full-on, classic Bay Area thrash symposium that was as rowdy and half-cocked as it was technically superb. Braindead definitely holds to the latter temperament, but some of the roguishness that made the prior outing such dumb fun has been diluted. Opener "I Am the Antidote" skillfully resets the stage with a meaty, midtempo gait and dark, melodic lead that owes more to Ghost B.C. than it does Testament or early Megadeth, and the blistering "Mad Torture" and aptly named "Hangover Activator" go a long way in showing that the band hasn't misplaced its speed metal center. Closing the LP with an inspired "California Easy Listening Version" of the title track from their sophomore LP shows that the austere tone of the album is hardly impermeable. ~ James Christopher Monger