It could be argued that no one does thrash better than the Germans, with a pretty good cross section of the genre heavyweights having emerged from the Teutonic hinterland; and in spite of the modern death metal influences, thrash is still the order of the day throughout _Live in Despair_. Cuts like "Crushing Beyond Belief" and "Unseen Force" find Stigmatized doing barrel rolls around the competition, one hair trigger riff after another testifying in all righteousness for the glory of the late '80s and early '90s, and making it all sound brand new in the process. With stellar production, world class chops, and in innate flair for what made thrash and Earache / Roadrunner-era death metal so goddamn -rocking-, Stigmatized assert their will on the reluctant malleability of the current extreme metal canon.