When a band has a name like Mechanix I tend to be suspicious and when said band also features a singer who tries to sound like Dave Mustaine, I get the urge to use the disc as a frisbee. Luckily, I am in good control over my evil twin, and I managed to sit calmly through the first run of the disc. After a long break, and a good amount of Death Angel, I managed to sit through another dozen spins. It’s a good thing I’m a pretty tolerant person.

Mechanix deliver exactly what you expect: early eighties speed metal. However charming that may be, History Re-rotten just doesn’t appeal to me. The songs are repetitive, and the riffs are terribly predictable. But by far the worst are the horrific vocals. We all know that Dave Mustaine isn’t the most brilliant singer, but he at least has that charisma thing working for him. Wolf however has everything working against him; his vocals are plain bad and terribly forced.

Add to that a wonderful German accent and you have a recipe for disaster. And just as you thought his vocals couldn’t get any worse, Mechanix starts playing the only ballad on the album, “History Re-rotten”. Not even a bad song, but completely torn to pieces by the mediocre vocals.

Mechanix have apparently released this album themselves and to give credit where credit is due: the sound is actually pretty decent. Sure, the guitars could have been mixed in a bit heavier, and the vocals a whole lot softer, but all in all a pretty good sound for such a low budget recording. Furthermore, some riffs are actually pretty decent, and the band has that real aggressive and tight vibe going on. Too bad these riffs are far and few between. Mechanix are a young bunch of lads, and with some development they might still surprise us some day. Rome wasn’t built in one day either.