Rumpelstiltskin Grinder - Ghostmaker
Candlelight Records
Thrash Metal
12 songs (45:45)
Release year: 2012
Rumpelstiltskin Grinder , Candlelight Records
Reviewed by Goat

Thrash metal's silliest-named band is back with a third album full of energetic headbanging tunes that draw influences from a pot broader than the usual thrash stew, whilst keeping the genre's typical sense of humour. It is notably different from Living For Death, Destroying The Rest, chiefly for bassist Shawn Riley's move even further away from thrash vocals towards a blackened yowl. As things stand, Ghostmaker is a more-than-decent album that progresses from Living For Death... by improving upon the songwriting knack shown there to excellent results. The likes of the title track are ripping thrash crunchers that feature not only a progressive tweak structurally, but also plenty of lovely lead guitarwork from Ryan Moll and Matt Moore (the latter also of XXX Maniak and Absu). As Nightworms alone proves, there's enough ripping thrash muscle beneath the multi-genred cover skin to keep the moshers happy, yet the following Fucking Wild moves into higher speeds worthy of more death metal-influenced territory.

It's hard to keep track of where exactly songs are heading on early listens, as songs are complex and unpredictable, even with that thrash base. Dripping With Venom dances about like a deranged banshee, somewhere between old-school melodeath and modern thrash with plenty of melodic leadwork to connect the two. The following Cold Haunting Death, meanwhile, slows the tempo a little with almost prog metal meander at first followed by the mother of all thrash metal build-ups, whilst the following A Lurking Thief takes a more atmospheric turn, slower and nastier. Especially enjoyable is You've Been Had, some proggy concoction of modern thrash and black that grooves its way into your heart with charming precision, and the snarling speed of Get Out Of My Grave/Gigantic Graveyard is like some early Dark Tranquillity opus that time and legend forgot.

I was disappointed by the lack of a three-part epic like we got on the last album, and it's fair to say that the band seem to be moving towards melodic death in a way that suggests less a multi-genred thrash experience and more that you'll be getting a greater influence from melodeath with time and the future albums. As things stand, the thrash is still winning out, and to such an extent that I would still class Ghostmaker as that kind of album solely. In terms of quality, there's enough to call this just better than Living For Death... however, and fans of that album will find more goodness here.

Killing Songs :
Ghostmaker, Nightworms, Dripping With Venom, You've Been Had, Get Out Of My Grave/Gigantic Graveyard
Goat quoted 84 / 100
Other albums by Rumpelstiltskin Grinder that we have reviewed:
Rumpelstiltskin Grinder - Living For Death, Destroying The Rest reviewed by Goat and quoted 83 / 100
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