Italian Trash Metal band Mass Crysis have just released their debut album Imposing Truck. This is the band’s debut album after only releasing an EP titled Die Totale Early Thrashin’ Days back in 2020 and a single Big Black Dog earlier this year.

This is a nine track record, starting off with single Big Black Dog, instantly the guitar riffs and bass are beautifully well done, it gets you headbanging straight away with the signature “metal head approval headbang”, the face you pull where it looks like you’re in pain but its a nod of appreciation to the guitarist. It isn’t long until the vocals are thrown in and you can tell straight away this is a first album, the vocal mixed in with the instrumental is off from the get go, it does give the authentic “this is a first album” feel. However the multiple sounds together doesn’t fit all too well, the mixing is off when it comes to this. It sounds like the vocals don’t match too well with the sound, and I know that trash-metal is different and it has an edgier feel to it, but the mixing has room for improvement.

Earthquake comes next as a second track, the intro is different to the previous with a backing track of what sounds like moving mechanics before being thrown into a guitar riff thats slightly similar to the last song, but with a higher pitch that fits in perfectly making the song sound not too similar to the first track, but keeping the theme within the album. Vocals come in and this time there is an improvement, and it fits in better this time with the instrumental. However to me personally this sounded more like early 2000’s metalcore than trash-metal, it’s reminding me of original Bullet For My Valentine but with a hint of Anthrax it’s like the two genres merged together. I feel like the rest of the band needs to be louder, it does sound like when everything is blended together you can mostly just hear the vocals, instead of a blend its less blend and more just solid vocals.

Boom comes in with again still fairly low volume guitar riffs, the bass, guitar and drums seem like they have been put low down as a priority when it comes to the final production. They’re the ones that sound the best out of everything on the track but you can’t hear it. Midway through the song we get a metalcore sounding guitar solo which would work on the right song, in the right genre, the vocals are given a break so we can finally hear the talent of the guitarist. As trash-metal vocals go, its bang on and the way the frontman throws his voice out there is exactly what you want, but it shouldn’t be the only thing you can hear. There needs to be some more post production done of the vocal aspect of the tracks, to help it blend with the rest of the song.

Now Shit Politician brings it to a more Thrash Metal feel, the vocals are a lot better and have a bit more edge to them with the rougher vocals, the same point seems to be still there throughout this album, and that’s the vocals are put as a bigger priority in terms of volume. But this one is the better track of the album, in terms of mixing. Everything is flowing a lot better, the vocals mix well with the bass and drums so the beat is actually going somewhere this time. With a title like this, the roughness is what is needed. It works perfectly well with the theme, it’s like they’re going to take down the shitty government. I’m picturing an early 2000s metal music video, with a blue tint on the footage and the band performing in government buildings and fighting against them.

I would say Fit of Nerves has a similar sound and theme as Shit Politician. This is a lot faster, it’s a lot more intense, the vocals are reminding me of Anthrax merged with Metallica. It has the edge, it has the intensity with the tempo, with deep guitar riffs it works this one actually works and sounds like a Trash Metal track.

This is the middle part of the album and it’s only just started to get good. One thing I’ve noticed from the past five tracks is the drums sound very much the same on each and every track, it’s like it’s repeated. Towards the end of this track, it changes and we’re getting a more 50s style guitar riff, it’s softer, it’s light and it’s a complete genre switch. Everything has slowed down and it’s lower, it’s a full change to the start of the song.

Throughout this entire album it’s sounded like a cheesy part of a sitcom where the main characters have decided to form a rock band and it’s a clip showing their first practice.

Ego Never Died  has an intro that sounds like it has been taken out of Dr Feelgood by Motley Crue. The vocals come in and I can’t lie with this, it’s not getting any better. The vocals sound like that episode of How I Met Your Mother when they show Robin Sparkles grunge phase. I can’t tell if we have a Motley Crue inspiration with the guitar riffs and bass playing with vocals that might have taken slight inspiration from Korn? We have classic rock riffs with Korn like vocals and the two mixed together is just so bizarre.

This Is the Game starts slow and light, like a dramatic exit of an action movie from the 90s. Again this is reminding me of Glam Metal power ballads, I’m seeing a desert with the sunsetting and the guitarist in the middle of nowhere blasting out these solos. This is my favourite track of the album, it’s the one where everything seems to have mixed correctly. It’s like the effort has been put into this track as the album is coming to an end. But then we get midway into the song and the entire tempo changes, but it does not blend well. It’s like a random switch compared to the beginning without a build-up, it’s just random.

Closed in a Body starts with a promising riff, and deep dark bass lines, the drum beats have changed and have been given a bit more of a push. The vocals are a bit better and work well with the music, this time it actually works but I still say it sounds more Metalcore from the early 2000s. The lyrics say “I want to do everything” but maybe it should be a focus on getting this fixed in post-production a little more.

The vocals from the frontman sound like Korn, Anthrax and Vince Neil thrown into one all from their prime which is a blend you would never put together. With the right mixing this album could be great, however the entire production feels rushed, I can’t get a feel of energy from any point in this record, when I hear this I don’t feel the energy or enjoyment. I just picture a bunch of people standing around not showing any emotion playing these songs.

Blues is on the list of poorly sampled. Everything sounds like it was recorded on a phone and sent over to the production team to put together, but they just took the recording and put it straight onto the record instead with zero post production.

As an overall with this album, it had some good points with the guitars, the bass and the drums. However the mixing of that and the vocals together made the album just seem poorly produced and cheap, which to be fair tends to be the case with most debut albums. However, there is room for improvement and with the correct post production mixing it could be something great at some point. But it just made the entire album seem like it was put together way too fast, I felt no emotion listening to it and I couldn’t think of anything when it came to listening to it.

Overall it’s only a 4/10.

Words: Lauren Allard.

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