Sporting a nine song lobe-to-lobe drain into various states of delirium and disgust in response to the grey-scaled social engineering of a terminal planet Gothenburg, Sweden-based metalpunk duo GERM BOMB return for a fifth full-length album intent to explore the known as often as the yet unheard-of possibilities in their realm. As spirits dissolve into bleaker post-apocalyptic realities ‘Monochrome Nightmare‘ thrives on experience, partaking in new twists in oeuvre and full-bodied turns taken in service of catchier, gloomier wares. Persistent as these folks have been over the years here we find the galaxy-brained version of their craft extracted after the fall and dripping in toxic mud per these occasionally anthemic, mostly stomping, altogether sullen pieces.

Germ Bomb formed back in 2009 between drummer/vocalist Pierre Ohlson and vocalist/guitarist Hampus Kuylenstierna both of whom had their start in the late 90’s with Zeke inspired Motörpunk band Hathor, a decade long endeavor which also featured the fellowe from Sarcastic at one point. They’d set aside that group back in 2008 to start this band with a slightly different focus which’d been inclusive of all of their experience gained in creation of tuneful, d-beaten and rocking stuff. This’d translated directly into the gruff yet melodic strikes of their debut album (‘Infected From Birth‘, 2010), probably their most hardcore punk oriented release to date. Those belligerent roots would translate directly to the form of tuneful yet stamping speed metalpunk-inspired style churned from that point. They’d gained considerable notice from their enthused second LP (‘Sound of Horns‘, 2013) which we can consider the defining release from the band to start. If you’d been a fan of the rise of Venom inspired fare in the early 2010’s but also enjoy a bit of Samhain ‘tude an album like ‘Under a Fading Sun‘ (2015) might’ve made sense as a unique mid-paced outlier when it released, a continuation of the previous album which fit the “apocalyptic rock n’ roll” tag they’d given themselves minus the swinging movement one’d expect from the n’ roll modifier. From my point of view the precedence for what ‘Monochrome Nightmare‘ achieves in its ~40 minute run was well enough set within the band’s second and third albums, essentially leaning into the darker potential of that sound without going extreme metal with it.

So, what does ‘Monochrome Nightmare‘ do that ‘Gist Sucked Out‘ didn’t back in 2019? This fifth album uses most all of the tools available to these ~twenty-five year veterans to the craft to write memorable (or, at least signature) songs, generating some decent variety as they mess with more than just sub-genre nuts and bolts to feel their way through this gloomy yet grinding attack upon humanity’s egotism and self-imposed doom; Beyond the contempt for conformist Christocentric corporatism we feel right off the bat as we step into the slow-going snarl of “Nailed to the Cross” layers of keys/guitar synths, oily guitar effects and a driving pace set a dire but (again) signature tone per the sound Germ Bomb have been developing since their second LP. From there this album is kinda banging stuff as we hit the soured d-beaten whip of “Narcissist” and the Amebix cum dark post-punk walk of doomer anthemic “Sot” rounding out the first impression made. The bluntness of the band and their kinda early 80’s Celtic Frost‘d metalpunk by way of Misfits (see also: “Monochrome Nightmare”) dark cloud still hangs in its simple enough appeal as we chunk on through catchier but admittedly distraught “The Wolf” b/w the more rocking step of “Tower of Babylon”, rounding out a solid Side A experience. This first half of the album retains a darker edge applied to their otherwise consistent personae beyond 2013 or so.

Side B would ultimately serve as the clincher, the point of no return, essentially the material which’d not so squarely set itself in the “box” that Germ Bomb long set themselves within as we slow-kick through the coldly shouted echoes and death rock degen of the title track into too catchy for its own good choruses and L7-level riff n’ roll of “Germ Bomb” (see also: intro to “Swallow the Universe”), easily one of the most notably stated pieces they’ve managed to date. From there things lean into the darker rant-along “Turn the Cross” and the more kitsch of the closer; Every song counts here, perhaps certain parts of the finale are less important, but ‘Monochrome Nightmare‘ makes its major points of impact upon introduction and extension into its second half, leaving very few points of ass-dragging and samey pieces that’d plagued some of their past releases. To be fair ‘Gist Sucked Out‘ had already implied some of these new-found stylized ideas and general tone here but this time around they’ve written at least a few infectious songs with that new gloomin’ sensation applied.

Given some distance from the swaggering dread of ‘Monochrome Nightmare‘ it rests in mind as reinforcement for Germ Bomb having some place to go with their sound beyond 2015 and in fact that they’ve got some mind for catchier songs meant to stick in mind beyond a general feeling of metalpunk affected aggression. Should they go full-on death rocking crossover at this point? Certainly not, the nuclear-level chunking of their sound is still a strong signature foil though here they’ve proven an anthemic song or three can really make the experience sing. At the end of the day this’d been an album that’d felt great to return to, got its kicks in well enough and had just enough of a hook to its wiles that I’d returned to it more frequently than expected. A moderately high recommendation.

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