I’ve always had a weak spot for German rockers Crack Up. I was introduced to them with their "From The Ground"-album and have had the pleasure to review their excellent albums "Heads Will Roll" and "Dead End Run" (in my opinion one of the best death rock albums in my collection), so when I heard that these freaks released a new album I just knew I had to get it.

"Buttoxin` Bloom" is quite a step away from those last two albums. Especially "Dead End Run" featured songs that had as few different riffs as possible and focused totally on grooviness. "Buttoxin` Bloom" marks Crack Up`s return to song writing, songs with a head and tail. Since the last album, Crack Up has definitely matured and found out that the way they went was a dead end run indeed. The new songs are all very diverse and contain a lot of elements from thrash, rock, punk and hardcore all blended together into a genuinely original mix.

For those who might get worried reading all this, there’s still some songs that are reminiscent of the old style (`Depeche Express`, `Go To Hell`); but there is so much more to discover on this album, that a couple of listening sessions will convince even the most hardcore fan of Crack Up that this is the way to go. Even the (excellent!) artwork has undergone a style change to a more serious, straightforward approach.

While the transition to "Buttoxin` Bloom" might shock certain people, I have to congratulate Crack Up on an excellent job and delivering an excellent album. While the unavoidable result of creating such a diverse album is that the quality is not as constant as on "Dead End Run", their latest album marks a new era and a new height for Crack Up. Hopefully, we will see this band on tour soon.