After a totally useless intro that sounds like it was sampled directly from the soundtrack of some fantasy movie or something, this German act immediately cuts the shit and throws down some brutal European metalcore the way it was meant to be: Just the right amount of metal, just the right amount of hardcore. There are tons of burly chord progressions, tons of Slayer-esque riffs, a good dose of tasteful melody, brutal vocal growls, etc. They do flirt with a lot of the more modern metalcore trappings, but they don't take things too far into generic territory. I do think the songs are a little on the long side, though. Most of the tracks run around five minutes or more, but if they were to shed a minute or so from each track things would keep moving and the intensity wouldn't have time to drop off. A lot of the songs sound really similar to one another, so it's only when things take a noticeable turn with slower, more forceful tracks like "Thoughts of a Once Weakened Heart" that things really start to come out of the woodwork. They close out with an unlisted (and barely recognizable) cover of Minor Threat's "Filler" as well. It sounds nothing like the original. Were it not for the spoken vocals at the beginning I would've had absolutely no idea that they weren't doing an original track. Awesome. That's the best way to cover a song in my opinion. The production needs minor tweaking but isn't too shabby. Parts I like, parts I don't. I totally love the bass tone. That shit is fucking monolithic and sounds downright evil. The drums are too flimsy though, and that thins out the overall mix. The guitars have that heavy but dirty crunch going on, so sometimes things can sound a bit out of tune or sloppy (the sparse clean breaks and solos can sound especially awkward), but the vocals are well placed in relation to the music... so I mainly think tightening up the guitars and using a more natural drum sound would do the trick. The layout's okay. It's mostly black and white (except for the band logo) with lots of busy repeating textures and layers of photography (most of the pages have the same background) and the text is all rather plain, but clean and legible at least. The lyrics are a mix of personal and somewhat political commentary, but everything is looked at from a personal angle for the most part. "No step out of line is tolerated, every wrong step is punished, every remaining piece of freedom is slowly dying of its own protection. No one will realize it, because the noise of their civilization made them deaf already. And as crystal souls they will dance on its grave. Glazing with open arms as the new world order is established." A slightly better recording and a little bit more variety will definitely see this band on the right path... not bad at all.
[Beniihana]
Running time - 46:50, Tracks: 10
[Notable tracks: Thoughts of a Once Weakened Heart, Filler]
Beniihana Records - http://www.beniihanarecords.com
