Hearse "Armageddon, Mon Amour" CD
[Karmageddon]
This Swedish act features former Arch Enemy vocalist Johan Liiva, and the band name had me expecting something in the doomy vein, but instead this is a mix of classic Swedish death metal, traditional metal, and some scarce southern rock/sludge influences. I sense a pretty large similarity to various stages of Entombed's career here, but with more experimentation as far as bringing in a few atypical influences and lots of blatant classic metal harmonies. There are definitely some really catchy moments here, it's not a bad record, but I must admit that something about it feels off. I almost think they would be better off stripping things down even more and letting the songs speak for themselves. The vocals are generally doubled, sometimes with minor effects, there are tons of layers of guitar lines/harmonies, etc. - and all of that comes off as a bit of a jumbled blur, which is odd as the recording really isn't so bad. There's just not enough clarity, and it takes away from the base level impact of the material. A lot of the songs are too long as well, routinely topping five or six minutes, which again makes me wonder if keeping it simple might be a better option. As mentioned the recording isn't bad. I think there's too much lingering midrange, and the bass lacks definition, but the individual tones are generally pretty good. The mix needs more clarity and some of the layering feels unnecessary, but I'm not really bothered much by the sounds so much as their placement and the business of the mixing job. The artwork is fucking terrible on this thing, though. The concept that they were going for is alright, but god damn is the execution ever fucking atrocious. Lyrically the tracks just don't do much for me, I'm indifferent there. "It strikes me that the world we live in is cruel and unfair, Destiny was meant to guide us as good as anywhere..." This is a strange record. On one hand I like parts of it a lot, but on the other hand it's terribly boring. None of these songs really stand out, and if they do, they end up running for so long and going through so many changes that they lose their identity and get stale. Overall I'm not into it, there are some fucking great riffs, but most of the songwriting is a little bland. (5/10)
Running time - 46:30, Tracks: 11
[Notable tracks: Crops of Waste, Determination]
Karmageddon Media - http://www.karmageddonmedia.com

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