Pro-Pain – No End In Sight

For over 15 years Pro-Pain has been cranking out their mix of hardcore and metal and they have been doing a really good job of it even though every album sounded exactly the same. And just when you thought they would never ever play anything else, out comes lucky number thirteen (“No End In Sight”) where the band finally decided to branch out. Not that they suddenly started writing pop music but still…

Opener “Let The Blood Run Through The Streets” and the subsequent “Halo” is still vintage Pro-Pain with Gary Meskil spewing out his political views over a whole lot of chugga chugga chords. But once “Hour Of The Time” kicks in with guest vocals from Böhse Onkelz’ Stephan Weidner, I found myself cringing. This is one song that would’ve been better off on the cutting floor. More musical guests can be heard on “Phoenix Rising” where Rob Barrett (Cannibal Corpse) helps out.

Not all of the experiments are equally cringeworthy though. “To Never Return” for example has a chorus that sounds like there was a double booking in the studio with a powermetal band that decided to make the best of the situation. There’s more clean singing on “No End In Sight” than ever before and it makes for a more diverse album. At the same time though it takes away from Pro-Pain’s bulldozer effect which is kinda what I’ve always liked the most about them.
Not their best album but definitely not their worst either.
Score: 7 out of 10
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