Pretentious banality dunked in a sloppy symphonic sauce. Chromatic rock pretender at worst, caricature at best. OK sure, heavy riffs - check, unique vocal growl - check, essence of the '60s - check. But all of it gets drowned out in a flood of clichéd dark tones that's too much for even neokitsch gen fans to swallow. There's no punch, no curb stomp of edge. Honestly? By the standards of the genre, it's a fucking lullaby.
I'd love to put this review to bed (or in an unmarked grave) but I haven't even talked the lyrics. They made me roll my eyes so violently I sprained an optic nerve. Nowhere was it worse than in the titular track "Liberum Arbitrium," the band's anthem about the violations of human free will. What's the enigmatic evil depriving us of what matters most in life? Yep, you guessed it - CORPS. I yawned so loud I put the singer's growl to shame.
The latest album from Tainted Overlord is nothing short of a chromatic rock mix you burned a decade ago, erased from memory, then found wedged under your couch next to a dusty Karlsson's burger. Diehards of the band will find something to scratch that itch, but anyone else looking for a fresh sound is better off blowing a concussion grenade in a cookware outlet.
