Detonation is very familiar to me, because I reviewed their first album too.That album was called An Epic Defiance, and impressed me on the spot. The maniacal drumming on that record was phenomenal. A record deal with Osmose Productions was soon accomplished and Detonation made their way through Europe. After 2 years of touring and writing songs, they have recorded their follow-up called Portals To Uphobia, which I’m going to review now.

 

The record starts with Into Sulphur I Descend, which really is the first proof that Detonation hasn’t really changed anything about the style. Of course everything is more polished, but the basic melodies are still influenced by bands like Skyfire, Dark Tranquillity and in lesser sense Children Of Bodom. Unlike several other bands I heard the past year, Detonation hasn’t created a C.o.B.-look-a-like-record, of which I am very grateful! Well, the album continues in this Death/Thrash style. It’s definitely Gothenburg-orientated Thrash and when it’s performed well, I don’t have anything against it. One of my personal favourite tracks was The Loss Of Motion Control, which is really aggressive in the start, but floods out into a mellow song, that is perfect when stoned.

 

I haven’t got anything bad to say about this album. Personally, I would have liked it without the melodic parts in it. Luckily, Detonation has combined these melodic parts with class A Death/Thrash. Personally, I think An Epic Defiance was nicer to listen to, but Portals To Uphobia is a logical continuation of the music on that last record. This is definitely worth to check out for fans of Gothenburg-styled death/thrash bands.