Two years after releasing their incredible album Pod vládou biče, !T.O.O.H.! got signed to Earache Records via Elitist Records and released Order and Punishment to a worldwide audience. Things were really looking up for them, until Earache Records proved to be a bunch of callous assholes by pulling all their funding from Elitist Records and putting the album out of print. This forced !T.O.O.H.! into bankruptcy which left them no choice but to disband. They reformed in 2011 and were hard at work with touring and recording a new album, but one year later, Humanoid came down with schizophrenia. His condition made it so hard to tour and record that Schizoid declared that their next album, Democratic Solution, would be their last. The album has finally been released, and unfortunately, it's a huge disappointment.
I don't even know where to start. I guess I'll start with the drums. No longer are they played by a human being. They're all programmed on this album. On the past albums, they were wild and frantic and could pull off a lot of sweet, complicated tricks. Since they're programmed now, all they can do are blast beats and simple rhythms. This makes the entire album feel cold, sterile and mechanical. It just doesn't feel like !T.O.O.H.! anymore. Now it sounds like some old, worn-out industrial metal band whose glory days were decades ago. This sterile feel is especially obvious on their rerecordings of songs from their past, most notably “Aura & Ziata”. They strip out all of the elements that made those songs great and replace them with faulty robotic versions.
Sure, the guitars still sound like !T.O.O.H.! – the structure and tone still sound the same – but they sound like a shadow of what they once were. On past albums, they sounded like the howls of untamed beasts. Now they sound weak and subdued. The amazing spirit they once had is gone. Worst of all are the vocals. On past albums, Humanoid played these manic screams that would send chills down your spine. Now he's using dull, monotone clean vocals. He sounds like he's had all the life drained out of him. He sounds like a broken shell of a man. His performance is what Devin Townsend would sound like if he spent a decade in Gitmo. Even worse is when he goes into these “la la la la la” parts. They made me want to melt into nothingness from the sheer embarrassment I felt after listening to them. They're that bad.
What a sad end to what was once a great band. This album was so mechanical and soulless. It sounds like an angel that has been stripped of his wings. Why did the band think it would be a good idea to use a drum machine? Why did Humanoid think it would be a good idea to use clean vocals? I don't think I'll ever know the answers to those questions, but I do know that !T.O.O.H.! has ended not with a bang, but a whimper. Good night, sweet prince. At least I still have the legendary Pod vládou biče to remember you by.
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