After toiling away in the Mid West death metal scene for over a decade and 5 albums, Chicago’s Jungle Rot released the best album of their consistent, if unspectacular career last year in Kill on Command. And even though it was an album released on their much maligned home town label, Victory Records, it was an album that showed increased aggression, better song writing and a confident mix of old school chug and modern polish.

So less than a year later, Jungle Rot is back with their second album for Victory Records, and it appears that Jungle Rot is back in a holding pattern as they were early in their career. Kill on Command set the  the bar for Jungle Rot pretty high, so it was inevitable that the following album would have some big shoes to fill, so rather than try and be more aggressive and intense than Kill on Command, Jungle Rot almost takes things the other direction, resulting in the most melodic and friendly album Jungle Rot has released.

Don’t get me wrong- this isn’t power metal or melodic death metal – it’s still undeniably Jungle Rot: neanderthal-ish, chugging, simplistic, and groove laden, war mongering death metal, but there’s a few more harmonies and melodic riffs thrown in to the fray. For example, take the 8th track “Ruthless Omnipotence”- that main riff is catchy and melodic as hell, and more at home on a thrash album. And even with plenty of the bands core, mid band trundle and chug in play, there’s just more melody here overall. And that’s not really a bad thing as it give tracks like “Voice Your Disgust” “Utter Chaos”, “I am Hatred” and “Pronounced Dead” a little more memorability, if less bite. Fear not though, there’s plenty of the band’s signature simplistic chug and groove as heard on the title track, “Scorn”, “Blind Devotion” and the short but aptly named salvo of “Carpet Bombing”.

The band even delve into the world of cover songs as they did on 2009s What Horrors Await, (covering Destruction‘s “Invincible Force”) this time digging into DRI‘s classic catalog with an energetic version of  “I Don’t Need Society”, from 1985’s Dealing With It! fitting in with the albums rebellious/anti establishment themes. My only issue is the placement of the track as it sort of interrupts the flow and crunch of the preceding and following numbers- call me old fashioned but cover songs should always be the last track on an album.

While not as impactful or heavy as Kill on Command, Terror Regime shows both the band’s rigid consistency and just a little wiggle room in their sound, though i would have preferred the band further explore and develop their heavier side.

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