After their impressive yet somewhat long-winded debut “L.D. 50” Mudvayne comes with a more balanced new album entitled “The End Of All Things To Come”. Having gained a lot of touring experience Mudvayne are able to anticipate even more. Don’t expect any surprising new things but just the usual M-ingredients: dark, modern and technical metal songs with numerous breaks. I have not come across many bands writing songs in 17/8 and 11/8 (“Trapped In The Wake Of A Dream”) and still managing to maintain structure in their songs. The variety of the songs has therefore improved a lot since their last album. To polish these dark pearls Mudvayne hired David Botrill, known for his work with Tool and King Crimson, to produce their album.

His search for perfection and structure combined with Mudvayne’s musical capacity lead to highlights like the heavy-weight “Not Falling” and sensitive and melodic “World So Cold” and “Solve Et Coagula”. Altogether a very nice album that will please the critics but will slightly disappoint the fans who want it heavy as a really heavy thing (if I may quote Devin Townsend). Hopefully they’ll drop their silly names (Chüd, Güüg, R-üD and Spüg) and quit the dress-up parties and thus get the musical appreciation they deserve.