A good debut remains a good debut and can only seldom topped – this seems to be too often an unwritten rule of the Electro/Industrial-scene. Therefore my expectations on the new AMNISTIA-album, released only 1 year after their debut "Neophyte", weren’t too euphoric. What a mistake! "Blackguard" strengthens the talent of this Germany-based duo into the immeasurable. This new 13-tracker is in no way a tired copy of the debut, it rather more shows the progression of Stefan and Tino. First to mention are their compositions starting with the lyrics, which are more matured then ever before. At least they’ve nowadays found the courage also to sing in German ("Komplex", "Zu Staub"). Production-wise they’ve increased to a thicker sounding musically outfit, the synth layer sounds can be nearly called epic (the instrumental tune "Menacing" is an excellent example). And of course the right punch is within integrated, tracks like "Emulate", the title-track, or "Outrage" should appeal the dancefloor-oriented masses. There can be too heard a cover on the CURE classic "Cold" and in the already mentioned track "Outrage" they also integrate some rusty guitar riffs, which compliments this marvelous track. Choosing the right mastering studio (Jan L. of X-FUSION/NOISUF-X in his famous X-M-P-studio) makes sure a brilliant and crispy production. AMNISTIA are continuing their chosen path to discover the right mixture between EBM and Dark Electro, still influenced by some Canadian-based patterns, but they grow in this kind. As a little point of constructive criticism, I would like to hear some more variations regarding the effect processing on the vocals – nearly the same used effect on this whole album is a bit too optimistic. But nevertheless the development has reached a higher-than-expected level for this productive duo and the end of the rope isn’t reached. AMNISTIA are marching forward and are growing to an international renowned EBM formation.