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Germans Contradiction have been at it for 20 years and this is their 6th album, their 4th since 2003. Unlike a lot of Thrash coming out today, this one has more modern influences – it's more "modern Thrash" than just straightforward old school, and the rather polished sound brings that even more into light. When they're thrashing, this is pretty cool – lots of machine gun-style riffs that just rip through the speakers, something always welcome here. But Contradiction deviate from the safe Thrash formula by incorporating more melody, toning it down by going into modern Heavy Metal territory (again, not really old school stuff, just so we're on the same page here…) Despite a good number of listens, this just doesn't click, doesn't take off. Musically it's not bad, but it just feels like the guys are going through the motions – the good riffs here and there and occasional intricate melodies aren't enough to get this one off the ground.

On the vocals side, things can get pretty annoying to these ears, especially as the album gets in the last quarter. Throughout the album we have decent shouted vocals close to crossover style (but not quite there), but especially in the last few songs, the vocals get a little more "adventurous", more melodic, sometimes a little choir-ish and I find them downright annoying – see "Reign of Fear" for a good example. Your mileage may vary, and those more into modern Thrash will most likely like this more, but to me The Essence of Anger is OK, but passable and not something I'd feel an urge to listen to.