Behold, the Czech grind scene strikes again. !T.O.O.H.! already thrilled me on their previous album Pod Vladou Bice by taking the atypical grind tradition that Czech bands are known for and merging it with amazing amounts of progressive elements, jazz-fusion, melodic technicality, and whacky, yet coherent high pitched vocals. The music sounded like an Eastern European circus act that was engaged in an incestuous gang bang with their freak show mothers all while being bombarded by hellfire missiles with doves and hearts painted on the planes delivering their cargo.

!T.O.O.H.! then got signed to Earache’s avant-garde sub-label Elitist, making them label mates with Italian jazz masters Ephel Duath. If there was ever an appropriate home for !T.O.O.H.!, this was it. Now we have the dawn of Order and Punishment, their third full length (fourth if you count the separate language recordings of their debut From Higher Will). Their strange brand of progressive grind is still very much intact, but now the music is exponentially varied. You have the usual, over-the-top technicality and insanely bizarre song structure in tracks like "Al-Amin (Aneb Jak Vycakat Jelito)" and "Rad A Trest", but then you see tracks like "Ja Samaritan" which, while still very technical and complex, are a bit more traditional in their structure and then songs like "Padaji, Piskaji" which are more percussion intensive than the rest. While the jazz structure is still immensely present, you can now hear a bigger classical influence in the guitar work as well. Additionally, the bass work on "Kali" is nice, taking the end of the song by storm trading in and out with the lead guitar. The vocals have also taken a more diversified turn, featuring traditional choruses and a deeper, bellowing voice accompanying the high scream that !T.O.O.H.! has used as its lead vocals. The end result is that the band achieves a sound just as bizarre, just as technical (and in some instances even more so), and have more to offer than any past release in their discography.

Arguably, this is !T.O.O.H.!’s best album so far. It tops anything they’ve done previously, it tops most of Earache’s current roster, and it can top even some of the best of the Czech scene. Order and Punishment is probably going to end up standing by Elvenefris and Ball Spouter as one of the best records to come out of the country. Grab this fucking album.

Written By: Necro-tron