Deathreat

French death metal act Agressor have slowed down the pace considerably since their late-'90s reunion, releasing an album every few years, on no particular schedule. Sadly, that lackadaisical quality is starting to infect the music as well. Deathreat is one of the least engaged, most offhand death metal albums ever, and in a style of music that can only be put across if it seems like the bandmembers mean it with every fiber of their collective being, that's not a good thing. Lackluster mid-tempo tunes played like the bandmembers had one eye on the studio clock waiting for the bistro down the street to open lumber along under Alex Colin-Tocquaine's equally bored-sounding vocals. Ever hear someone do the death growl/grumpy Muppet voice as a jokey put-on? That's about what Colin-Tocquaine sounds like on songs like "Nightmare Comes By." Even a promising title like "Lust of the Flesh" doesn't come across well. It could be time for this long-running band to finally pack it in: listening to this enervated album, it seems like the only reason for the shortened album title is that they simply couldn't be bothered to write out the entire word!