Any time I hear about a band having a big following in Germany, my immediate thought is that the band probably sucks and the Germans have been drinking too much before making their CD purchases. How else can you explain the massive popularity of Manowar, Stratovarius, Queensryche, Metal Church, Saxon and Helloween?

Jack Slater is a German death metal band with a big following in Germany. Upon listening to their Metzgore full length, I honestly can’t figure out why. Jack Slater play a strange style of death metal blending Vile and Gallery Of Suicide-era Cannibal Corpse with Dying Fetus, late 90s Malevolent Creation, late 90s Vader and a hint of Sinister. While that may sound good in theory, the reality is it seems as though Jack Slater took the worst material of all of the above mentioned bands and smashed it with a hammer, ground it in a blender, then set it on fire and put it out with an enema spray.

Not once during the 37:26 album is there a single riff worth even a head bob, let alone an uncontrollable spastic thrashing of limbs, except the one I spent punching the plastic case the CD came in out of pure annoyance. The drumming is simplistic and incredibly repetitive and the guitar playing is among the most boring I’ve ever heard as they just go on… and on… and on… and on with and endless stream of lifeless and pointless pickings. The vocals are generally more of a hardcore bellow with an occasional death metal rasp, but there’s not enough depth to the vocals for them to add anything to the music.

In a way, Jack Slater are like Cephalic Carnage in that they try to blend many styles together to form one crazy, but infectious sound. Unfortunately, Jack Slater are definitely no Cephalic Carnage as their song writing is absolutely horrid.

If the name Jack Slater sounds familiar to you, it may be because you saw the Arnold Schwarzenegger movie Last Action Hero, where Arnold plays the action star; Jack Slater. I don’t know if they chose the name after watching the movie, but it really does suit them as Jack Slater is to death metal as Last Action Hero was to action movies. Ouch!

Written By: Teufel