The new long-player from Finnish Death-Thrash group Amoral (that's Death Metal played at Thrash tempos, for the uninitiated), Reptile Ride, has some dangerously high expectations to live up to. I caught wind of Amoral a few years ago when they hit the road with one of my all-time favorites, Amon Amarth. Picking up their then-well-received album Decrowning, I was intrigued by their blend of brutal, technical Death-Thrash and melodic hooks. However, the album had one flaw: The first track, "Showdown," gut-punched the rest of the songs-hard. So impressed was I that the rest of the album could do little to hold my attention, and it soon fell out of rotation entirely. I hadn't heard so much as a peep from the Amoral camp until this summer, when a new song, "Mute," popped up on their Web site. Long story short: I became heavily addicted to its righteous rocking opening riffs and sublime solos.Now, with most labels looking for the next Metalcore or Post-rock heavyweight, Reptile Ride has been criminally ignored, making it very difficult to track down on these shores. It's been a long, grim wait for my German import copy (It's November, people), but now I sit with an uncontrollable nosebleed, a case of whiplash and an enormous grin on my face. However, this Ride comes at a price.

I have to admit, I was disappointed at first. Picking "Leave Your Dead Behind" to open the album was a poor choice. Standard syncopated riffs and some bland vocals had me worried that "Mute" would be this album's "Showdown." Yet track two, "Nervasion," picks up the ball and streaks down the field for a touchdown. With a soaring, almost heart-lifting rhythm and melody and catchy solos, "Nervasion" puts on display all that is good and Metallic about Amoral's new, slightly more rock-based approach. The track also boasts the band's new affinity for skillful stop-start rhythm riff interludes, for which guitarists Ben Varon and Silver Ots should both receive Grammys.

In fact, it's worth mentioning at this point that Varon and Ots practically make this record shine on their own. Their soloing is highly skilled, showcasing a painfully addictive blend of rock 'n' roll wail and Death Metal shred. Listen to the three-minute mark of "Mute" if you don't believe me.

That's not to say that the rest of the band is a group of ne'er-do-well slackers. Vocalist Niko KalliojNrvi, though limited in range, displays an excellent sense of phrasing that's ear-catching in its own right. Check out the chorus of "D-Drop Bop" to see how his roars can get your head banging. Likewise, Juhana Karlsson is more than capable behind the bongos, pulling many a catchy pattern out of his hat.

The album continues its gold streak through "Hang Me High," "Mute" and "Few and Far Between," a track that explores some new territory for the band as they take their foot off the gas for the first time in three albums, allowing for some slower, heaving rhythms to break the surface of the torrent.

Unfortunately, the album begins to falter after that and the confidence that's so prevalent in the first five tracks begins to fade. "Snake Skin Saddle" loses me the way "Decrowning" did, with some uninspired (by Amoral standards) riffing and grating, monotonous vocals. "D-Drop Bop" saves the album's latter half, delivering Reptile Ride's last slam dunk, but the final two tracks, "Apocalyptic Sci-fi Fun" and "Pusher," fail to give the album the explosive end it deserves. The former is an instrumental track, but comes across more as a mediocre song that they were too lazy to write the lyrics for. "Pusher," though not a terrible track, is a poor choice for the cleanup spot, spending too much time building a mid-paced stomp and going nowhere in the end.

Ultimately, despite some truly brilliant tracks, Amoral is still a young band by Metal standards (though they formed in as youngsters in 1997, they've only since released three albums), and it shows here. The spotty pacing, combined with a wide range of disparity between the "hits" and the "filler" songwriting, the album is just a little too rocky to be labeled the classic I wanted it to be. But is Reptile Ride still worth the price of admission? I still think so. I had high, perhaps unrealistic expectations for this album, and the fact that the band even comes close to fulfilling them speaks volumes about its quality and potential.