Hamilton, Ontario's Threat Signal are something of a rarity in the increasingly overcrowded field of Scandinavian-style black metal, and it's due entirely to one key factor: singer Jon Howard just plain ****in' rocks. Most contemporary death metal bands are unintentionally hilarious because in the wrong hands, the now-clichéd "death grunt" vocal style makes the singer sound like a constipated Muppet, and it's hard not to giggle at something like that. Unlike most of yer more melodically oriented death metal bands, which usually have one of the guitarists providing clean vocals in counterpoint to the lead screamer's shredded larynx bellow, Howard handles both styles on Under Reprisal, and while his clean vocals are perfectly good, it's his screaming that really pins the listener's ears back.