‘Reckless ‘Till the End’ (Nuclear Blast Records) is the third album from metal core band Tasters (formerly Tasters’ Choice). Tasters worked for months on this album, slavishly recording over 20 tracks, choosing only the best 12; the act from Livorno, Italy tread sonically diverse terrain here- brutal breakdowns, radioactive guitar riffing in dropped tunings, and heavily melodic choruses; it’s a repertoire we’ve seen before from genre bands such as Bleed From Within, The Devil Wears Prada and Bullet For My Valentine, but Tasters manage to leave their own calling card.

The kickoff track ‘Katherine’s Got a Secret’ (also available for free download on the band’s facebook page), is typical of the music Tasters excels at- a style they define as “tribal metalcore.” Starting with some twisted hocus-pocus chiming reminiscent of ‘Edward Scissorhands, Tasters augments their brutal modus operandi with some haunted house organ sounds, before ripping into gnawing, blood-thirsty guitars and a beautifully dramatic clean chorus. ‘Please Destroy This World’ is a nice, savage number, with pounding double bass punk rock drums, deep, roaring vocals, and a great, catchy ascending chorus.

On ‘Thanks for the Precious Gift’, ‘Lonely’ and ‘Sleeping with Spirits’, Tasters throws in some heavy synths for atmosphere, but the real leads are, again, the chugging guitars and Dani Nelli’s screaming. ‘Shadows’ is an almost ballad-like rocker- there is some impressive melody and thundering elements in this particular song, particularly the chorus and outro. ‘First Time’ is a transitional piece under 2 minutes, leading into the final bonus track ‘(This) Appeared’- it’s an aggressive, desperate whirlwind that closes ‘Reckless ‘Till the End’ rather abruptly.

The major strength of this album for hardcore fans of metal turns out to be the main problem for the rest of us upon repeated listening- the machine-gun riffing and pulmonary roaring all starts to blend together a little too conveniently (tracks like ‘Falling Away with a Last Remembrance’ and ‘How Easy to Die (Smile if You Can)’ come to mind). ‘Reckless ‘Till The End’ starts impressive with its idiosyncratic blend of “loud-quiet-loud”, but this wears off during the second half, and finds the band content to simply riff away and howl without refining their approach.

I must confess that metal (let alone metal core) has never been a genre I really got into-but judging from the standpoint of a pure listener, there is much in ‘Reckless ‘Till the End’ that casual fans and the more devoted metal fan will enjoy; even I found myself rocking out to the more melodic elements. With a tour coming up with fellow metal core act Texas in July and the an album readymade for rebellion and moshing, it’s pretty apparent to me that Tasters will have no trouble adding even more loyal fans to its already impressive retinue.