Biomechanical – Cannibalised – 4.5/5
http://www.mediafire.com/?2omtewdm4tl
An album I picked up before the blog was established, I was quickly impressed and so naturally sought other opinions on this. It was upon reading various reviews that I realised it was poorly received by many, and its only looking back on it now that I can’t help but be a little confused. Amongst the major criticism’s was that it ‘wasn’t emotional’ and that ‘it was too quick,’ both of which strike me as rather counter intuitive. If I wanted emotional music I wouldn’t be looking at thrash, and unless I’m very much mistaken, one of the main points of the genre – neglecting for the time being the technicality aspect – was to be quick, aggressive and energetic: something this album delivers by the bucket load.
In fact, this album only ever relents from its awe-inspiring mechanical rage to go into epic synth-filled theatrical performances, lulling you into a false sense of security, only to come crashing down on you moments later, flurrying past in a blur of notes and screams pummelling you into submission. And then it’ll ease up again just so it can do it all over again. Producing something truly original in this genre is something which – for all intents and purposes – seems to have died a couple of decades ago, and so the fact that I fail to find an adequate comparison stands as a testament to its replay value.
The talents of the musicians rests more on their proficiency at their instruments than their compositional ability, which for the most part is fairly standard thrash, mixed up in such a manner so as to feel like all the riffs from an exodus album have been cut into a 5 minute track, and then sped up a bit for good measure. Naturally this leads to a disjointed feeling to many of the tracks, and it is this coherency issue that constitutes the major drawback. Notable mention to the prominently heard bassist Adrian Lambert who provides most of the blistering rhythms presented feels in order, an ex-Dragonforce member who has shed his cheese-like skin to prove he can not only play quicker than his former band but sound good doing it.
No, this isn’t the most emotional piece of music conceived. In the wake of death metal it isn’t the most aggressive, technical or unique piece either. It breaks no boundaries (though arguably pushes a few) and the variety of styles within it is constrained to the one genre, but this doesn’t matter. The bass work comes out to kick your teeth in and doesn’t stop to ask for directions as the vocals mechanically howl into the night sky as loud as they can to be heard over the sound of the guitars systematically melting your face off. This is some high tempo technical thrash with some theatrical epic synth work thrown in that simply overflows with energy, and that's fine by me.
Highlights: Fallen in Fear, Cannibalised, Consumed
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