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Now this is how you do a comeback album. Entropy had a pretty short run their first time around, releasing only two albums before breaking up with little fanfare to show for their efforts. Their debut, Ashen Existence, was a near-classic of Technical Thrash, but the band went on to ditch most of what made that release so good with Groove bullshit on their follow-up, Transcendence, which ended up being a trend-hopping waste of talent that saw them ending on a whimper. Suffice to say, I wasn't quite sure what to expect with their 2012 comeback album, thinking it just as likely they'd descend into Pantera-esque nonsense again as it was for them to gracefully return to their roots. No one's happier than me to say that they opted for the latter.

Jettisoning most of what made their previous album a chore to sit through, E³ is a thundering workout of Thrash that has plenty of complexity and style to go along with the skull-crushing heaviness. This is a heavier, more focused release than Ashen Existence, and they've had to sacrifice some of their old experimentation and identity to achieve that, but rather than devolve into dull thudding grooves like they did on Transcendence, they delivered an album full of songs that are all exercises in pummeling riffs, razor-sharp playing, deceptively complex songs, and the muscular vocals of Ger Schreinert, who goes on barking out his vocal lines as if he hasn't aged a day since 1992. This is all highlighted by an excellent production job, which makes the album sound nice and heavy while giving enough room for the intricate songwriting to shine through.

Basically put, this is the proper follow-up to Ashen Existence we should have gotten all those years ago, and one of the better comeback Thrash albums I've laid ears on. If you loved their older work and somehow missed their return, this is well worth getting, and anyone new to the band could do worse than start with this release. A solid return.