Review by Krys on January 26, 2002.

16 mind-crushing tracks in 30 minutes; that's what Jesse Pintado, Shane Embry, Nick Barker and Tomas Lindberg present on their sophomore release "Hate Breeds Suffering". And while an all-star line up doesn't guarantee success and in my case it even raises expectations and exposes our prodigies to the more selective and critical ear of a listener, Lock Up was not only able to fortify their positions as a driving grindcore machine but strengthen it.

From the first to last note, this album doesn't let go and keeps listeners gasping for air. Nick Barker once again proves that he belongs to the top ranks of skin-molesters in the world and with his signature double-bass and extreme blastbeats mixed into each track, he kills your brain cells with every stroke.

Exceptionally fast guitar work by Jesse and Shane can only leave you wondering how many bloody marks they left on their guitar frets after slicing their fingers through the strings. And while unsurprisingly, most of the riffs remind you of early stuff produced by Napalm Death or Terrorizer (what a coincidence) those guys were still able to develop fresh ideas that will make your head spin. And Tomas, what can I say, this man just screams his balls off and without taking anything away from Peter, Lock Up actually benefited from the vocalist change 'cause Tomas' voice just rips through the lyrics with a more grind oriented feeling than his predecessor.

The only thing that takes 1 point away from this great album is originality. I know, it's not supposed to be too original, just pure old school grindcore, but... as good as it is some bands (like aforementioned) did this a long time ago.

Bottom Line: I only hope that Lock Up is not just another all-star side project and they’ll continue to grow, ‘cause right now they are one of the best grindcore outfits on the market.

Categorical Rating Breakdown

Musicianship: 10
Atmosphere: 9
Production: 10
Originality: 7
Overall: 9

Rating: 9 out of 10

Review by Michael on January 24, 2024.

After the tragic loss of their long-time vocalist Andy Kaina who died in 2022 the band didn't give up and managed to recover from this tragedy. Although Andy left a gap that is hard to fill for sure, the band found a great new vocalist Marcus Seebach who - let me emphasize this – does an amazing job on Christus Hypercubus.

So, here we are with the 7th full-length album in Messiah's career, however, it is a pity that the band is still that underrated and more underground than deserved. Of course they had some really mediocre albums like Underground in their discography but also some really cool stuff like my fave Rotten Perish or their latest output Fracmont which also had some lengths in the songwriting though. So, the Swiss have tightened up their songs and focused more on gloomy melodies and cool riffs. The approach is much thrashier than on Fracmont and the songs are much more comprehensible on this one. Apart from the strange title where in my mind I connect a flying Jesus in a Borg cubus, I have to admit that I feared for the new album when I listened to the title track the first time. 'Christus Hypercubus' is the bulkiest song on the album with a lot of technical, repetitive and sluggish riffs which doesn't make it the best one to introduce the album. There are many others though, much more interesting and varied ones on the album which could or should've been picked. 'Once Upon A Time…Nothing' is probably one of the fastest songs they've ever written and this one is a real brutal death-thrash metal bastard with super aggressive vocals. A lot of Slayer vibes appear here to kick ass and this is probably one of the best songs they've done since Rotten Perish. 'Soul Observatory' is pure thrash (only with some death metal vocals) and moves straight ahead. The riffing is simple but very effective and this is one of the catchiest tracks with some atmospheric twists and turns in the middle of it. There is an acoustic part where there was some thrash and all of a sudden it has gone again. Great effect!

'Venus Baroness I' and 'Venus Baroness II' are some really groovy closers of the album (though 'closers' may be the wrong term for two tracks with a running time of 11 minutes together), but Messiah managed to write some rousing melodies with great hooks. Again they mix up some heavy thrash and death elements to a galloping tempo and so these two tracks don't appear to last 11 minutes but like maybe some diverting 5 minutes or so. I guess this is what makes out a good album. Oh, and if you want to relax a little bit, they have written 'Speedsucker Romance' for moments like this which is a slow creeping song without too many exciting moments in it. But beware, after this song the 'Centipede Bite' is waiting for you to bite you in your balls! I would say that Messiah has written a very good album with Christus Hypercubus which probably is one of the best albums in their discography. Apart from two average songs they did a very convincing job on their songwriting and also the production is powerful and well-balanced. This wasn't always so – I just say Choir Of Horrors (where are the vocals???).

Rating: 8.7 out of 10 (Anti)Christian Borg cubes