THE PRINCIPLE OF DOUBT

I did never get why this piece of (supposedly) metal art is so terribly underestimated among the fans who get the whole tech thrash thing. Maybe it's because this particular MD output should be better observed in a more complex and open-minded context? Anyway, I feel rather uncomfortable because of this very need of advocating a record like this.

At the time of first listen (it was around 1991), I'd already got some serious cultural schock and huge goose bumps while listening to this album's predecessor, Music of Erich Zann. But it is Principle of Doubt that became THE album, which truly changed my mind and view of the then current state of the metal and prog scenes. Another pleasant schock was Keil's singing: while many may consider tech thrash a bit mechanistic (or too mechanistic), Keil somehow achieved unbelievable level of soulfulness here, which adds drastically and strangely to the genuinely weird and dark atmosphere (just listen to those brilliant orchestral brass sounds! possibly, in the whole metal domain, only Morbid Angel could at the time produce, in their own way, a similar avantgardesque feel).

A reviewer from the era wrote that Principle of Doubt contains a huge amount of multi-cultural references, for example, it utilizes some rock cliches from 70's. Personally, I could call this approach "a secret tribute to the roots" - nowadays many bands use a similar approach, but very often it sounds too "on the surface" and becomes a symptom of running out of ideas, while Mekong Delta were at one of their creative peaks and were doing this in very informal and artistic way. On a side note: if you are a novice, I would recommend you to start elsewhere to achieve a more natural ascent to this multi-faceted peak.

While Erich Zann is often considered the first MD masterpiece, Principle is Erich Zann squared: it's the most challenging, varied and atmospheric MD work to date - and by "date" I mean "today". Possibly, only Visions Fugitives can stand close. I'm afraid, in sum all this also means the two most progressive MD albums ever - in the most true and non-trendy sense of the word.