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Poland's Saratan have been around since 2003, and this is their first full-length.  This is what I would qualify as "light/Modern Thrash".  The influences of yore can be heard here and there - mostly mid to late 80s Metallica and Slayer, but the style is much more modern and not as in-your-face as their influences.  After several listens I still can't get used to the vocals - a bit too overpowering, often relegating the instruments to the background, and while not core-ish, they almost get there at times.  Decent, but nothing to write home about (although the singer does have his moments, so it would be more of a matter of nailing the right vocal style for this music.)  Musically this is more interesting - lots of variety, from quiet acoustic periods, to doomy passages, some cool intros and then, of course, some heavy and sharp riffage which varies quite a bit in speed.  The guitar solos won't wow the solo freaks among us, but I found them to be amazingly well placed in the songs here: You can just feel them coming, it's a natural course of events.

The Cult of Vermin is a good introduction to this band due to its musical variety which showcases the band's versatility. The album sounds a bit flat, which hurts the delivery of the music, unfortunately. And if the could just put the vocals at their place, with a more appropriate tone that doesn't clash too much with the music, this is a band that we could hear more from in the future.