Began as a metal duet by brothers Anton and Lewis Patzner in 2002, Judgment Day is leading string metal out of the realm of novelty, gimmickry, and symphonic Metallica covers (sorry Apocalyptica) and turning it into a legitimate, unique sonic experience that holds its ground with better footing than a large chunk of guitar based metal. Peacocks/Pink Monsters, the duo’s second full length record, has much more of a progressive-metal feel than their first album, Dark Opus, though it would be silly to lump this record, or this band, in with one of the annoyingly long list of metal’s subgenres. It stands in a category of its own making.

With a sound far removed from that of their early shows on the streets of Berkley, CA, Peacocks/Pink Monsters features the band’s highest production quality to date, giving them a tighter, cleaner sound than anything they have previously released. While this allows for introduction of subtler sounds that may be swallowed up in a live recording, it also eliminates some aspects of what makes their sound unique when compared with guitar-driven metal. The gritty, dirty, scraping texture found only on instruments played with a bow is more readily set aside on this album in favor of a wider arrangement of effects and a healthy amount of layering.

The album starts out strong with “Cobra Strike,” one of its best tracks. After about ten seconds of ambience, you are thrown face first into a rapid interplay of jagged, rhythmic cello with frantic, layered violin (both with a perfect amount of distortion) over a black-metal snare beat that has you anticipating great things to come.

The calculated feel of the first track seems at first to be thrown to the wind in favor of thrash-metal with the aptly named “Zombie Rodeo Clown.” After about thirty seconds, however, it becomes clear that this song is anything but haphazard. While the intro had me wanting to stand on the back of a moving pickup truck and bash in mailboxes with a baseball bat while drinking Faygo (Moon Mist flavored, of course), the thrash soon transformed into rapidly galloping strings and drums that would be the perfect soundtrack to being chased across a field by Leatherface and family. This in turn alternates with sludgy, minor-key violin slides backed by slow, forceful drums to create a dynamic song that must make for an impressive live performance.

The title track gets a bit monotonous, repeating a cello riff throughout most of a song that is pretty boring when compared to the previous two tracks. It also gets slightly cheesy as the distorted violin comes in wailing in a way that makes you wonder if some guest vocals by James Labrie aren’t lurking right around the corner. The main riff is transformed, towards the end of the song, from 4/4 to 11/8, which is pretty cool (who isn’t a sucker for prime numbered time signatures?).

If “Peacocks / Pink Monsters” left you at all doubting this band’s ability to knock you on your ass, “Klagenstuck” quickly disabuses you of any such notion. An eerily whispered count off leads into a powerful black metal blast beat, faster than “Cobra Strike,” made all the more forceful by how clean the violin sounds. The instrument embraces its scrape and vibrato in a way that makes clear that Anton is not trying in any way to turn it into a guitar. The same goes for Lewis’s cello. Another thing that makes this song so damn good is how the fast, head-banging rhythm is regularly broken up every couple of measures as the drums briefly drop out to emphasize two descending notes that sound like part of a dark, Hungarian concerto. This alternation is a recurring glimpse of false sunlight as you are running full speed through an endless dark tunnel, fleeing from some beast whose hunger cannot ever be satisfied (yes, it is that metal).

Keeping with the trend, Judgement Day again sets a totally different pace with “Death March.” Another aptly named track, “Death March” is wonderfully dreary. Imagine Béla Bartók coming back from the dead and teaming up with a doom metal band composed of fellow corpses to write a four minute dirge intended to wake up the rest of the graveyard and set them marching, and you’ll get an idea.

While the second half of the album doesn’t quite match the first in terms of force, and tracks like “Excelsior”, stray a bit too close to a Dream Theater level of cheesiness, it also has many fine moments. In “Improvisation,” Anton’s violin is plucked and played through a loop petal in a way that sounds like rain falling on a glass roof, first gently, and then harder as the cold wind of Lewis’s cello brings the squall closer and closer to your front door. John Bush’s drumming builds in such a way that, by the end, they have shattered the glass house they built around you. The album ends with “Genosha,” a nine minute epic that, in contrast to the abruptness of most of the album, slowly fades away into soft drumming and swirling strings, eventually leaving the listener with nothing but the sound of her own breathing.

While occasionally walking a bit too near the line of over-production, and veering dangerously close at times to the cheese we all love to hate in certain progressive metal bands, Peacocks / Pink Monsters is an album worthy of a place on the top of your instrumental metal collection (you do have an instrumental metal collection... right?). Incorporating more complex rhythms than their past work, while retaining the grittiness and vibrato of the strings that makes their sound so unique, this album is a clear step forward, and a worthy follow up to Dark Opus. This is an album that will grow on you, one that you will get something new from each time you listen to it. Anyone who has seen them live will tell you that Judgment Day’s recorded music is nothing compared to their shows, and it just so happens they are touring for this album in a couple of weeks. If they are coming within 50 miles of your town, I highly recommend making the trip. I know I’m going to.

Track List:
1. Cobra Strike
2. Zombie Rodeo Clown
3. Prelude
4. Peacocks / Pink Monsters
5. Klagenstuck
6. Death March
7. Barrage
8. Mark of Vishnu
9. The Constant
10. Excelsior
11. Improvisation
12. Genosha