HARDWARES

METALLICA meets German ingenuity on PERZONAL WAR’s seventh full-length release, Captive Breeding. Formed in 1996, it’s hard to believe the German band has been together for 16 years now and have managed to escape my metal radar. This is their first release in four years and its first for Metalville, as well as the first album to introduce new guitarist Andreas Ballnus. Perzonal War plays a mixture of U.S. modern metal and German thrash with a Swedish melodeath flavor for good measure. The band’s aforementioned Metallica-ish musical quality is mixed with vocalist Matthias Zimmer’s James Hetfield-like vocal similarities. The 13 tracks display catchy hooks placed at just the right spots in between bouts of quick-paced and explosive aggression. There’s nothing perfect about Captive Breeding, but the band seems to hit that sweet spot nonetheless. It’s catchy but not too memorable, but definitely repeatable. However, a little vasectomy on some of the songs wouldn’t hurt, which might make them tighter and the album as a whole more cohesive. Although I have a hard time (mis)pronouncing its name and stumble over it every time, Perzonal War’s Captive Breeding is a decent discovery; how many spins are warranted in your CD player is up to you.