German thrash metal somehow always reminds me of well-played but extremely unoriginal metal and I’m afraid Perzonal War is in the same category. From the very first second you hear this album you know it is as solid as a rock with powerful guitar riffs and a sound that blows right up in your face but, unfortunately, this band has totally forgotten about their own identity. The whole album sounds like a combination of old school thrash bands like Anthrax, Testament and Metallica (during the black album period) with the addition of some more modern melodic parts. The music as a whole sounds like straightforward powerful thrash metal with minor power metal influences. To give a few brief examples of Perzonal War’s problem: the third song “Born” is an excellent thrash song, unfortunately however, it sounds like Testament meets Metallica. The fifth song, “Open My Wolrd”, is a superb ballad, but I would swear it sounds like Sentenced meets Metallica (think about “The Unforgiven” crossed with Sentenced’s “Sun Won’t Shine“) and finally the second song, “Bleeding”, which really sounds too much like straightforward Metallica and the list goes on. The problem doesn’t end there however; Perzonal War’s singer has, most of the time, the annoying tendency to want to sound totally the same as James Hetfield but instead winds up sounding like a weak copy. A good example is the second song, “Bleeding”, which, like mentioned above, could almost come straight from Metallica’s black album.

Although he actually even shows he can sing lots and lots better; listen for instance to one of the best songs on this album, the ballad, “What Is God”, where his vocals are more dynamic and melodic. One can only wonder WHY he must sound like James Hetfield if he can sing so much better? “Different But The Same” is far from a bad album however; it smashes into you like a true thrash album should and the songs are powerful and compact. Although originality is certainly lacking, variation however is not and that makes this album far from boring and a pleasant enough listening experience. So if you really don’t care about originality (unfortunately I do) and you love thrash then this is certainly the album for you. And to be fair however, it must be said that this album has its original parts too, albeit they are very limited. Ironically one of the best songs on the album is the limited edition bonus track, “Ending Dreams” and thus only a privilege for the first few people to buy the album. Once again, one can only wonder WHY? Perzonal War certainly does have talent enough but in order to make it they will have to steer away from their current course and take a few risks. The metal scene is screaming for good thrash bands, that play with the aggressive spirit of the ancestors and Perzonal War has all the ingredients, unfortunately the mixture of those ingredients on “Different But The Same” is wrong; maybe next time?