Lazarus A.D.’s "The Onslaught" was in my Top 5 Albums of 2009, and while "Black Rivers Flow" builds on the strengths of the debut, unless it grows on me, as of now it’s a disappointment because this time around they are trying a few new ideas out (which is fine), but a couple work, a couple don’t.

Opener ‘American Dreams’ is pretty good, utilizes more on a Pantera/Lamb Of God type groove (which appears often throughout the album), a grinding riff and a couple well placed melodic leads. A little more aggression (in the vocal too which sounds forced) fuels ‘Ultimate Sacrifice’ and I like how the pace picks up for the solo. A short subtle guitar piece starts the title track before it kicks in with a nice mid pace beat but I don’t know how I feel about the God Forbid style melodic chorus. The song is too much in the metalcore style. Same goes for ‘Casting Forward’ and the mixing of the groove riffs, harsh then clean vocals for the chorus. The twin guitar leads and tempo changes are nice and forward thinking, but the balls out traditional thrash riffs and arrangements on "The Onslaught" are missed...and speaking of ‘Through Your Eyes’ and ‘Beneath The Waves Of Hatred’ may work the best as a whole arrangement because the framework is built more on "Onslaught" than these new ideas. Still, where are the thrash riffs and tempos, "Black Rivers Flow" is more closely related to metalcore than thrash. ‘Eternal Vengeance’ uses clean lead and backing vocals, followed by the harsh and it really doesn’t work.

Overall, I’m sorry to say I think many of the riffs and overall style on "The Onslaught" is more cohesive than "Black Rivers Flow". I gave it a 7 out of 10 because you can hear (regardless of your taste) that after only two albums Lazarus are good at what they do and a relevant part of metal music today. "Black Rivers Flow" just lacks the consistency of the debut. Still I wanna hear more from these guys.