Eight tracks of Canadian drum machine grind in 11 minutes, featuring members of Fuck the Facts, Malefaction, and He Broke.? Do I like it?? Nah, not particularly.? There are definitely some sweet riffs on this thing, but I don't care for the recording and the songwriting is too disjointed for me to really appreciate it.? Sound-wise it's just too thin and harshly raw for me.? The drum machines sound pretty good, but the guitar tone is overly crispy, the bass tends to get lost, and the vocals just kind of fall into the mass with the guitars.? It's not terrible, aside from the lack of bass the mix is pretty even, but the guitars have an unnatural bite that leaves things sounding powerless and lacking in warmth, and that's a definite problem for me.? As far as the writing goes, expect lots of quick shifts between burly death metal riffing complete with a number of irritating pinch harmonics, high speed runs that have more of a technical flare, some chaotic displays that get a little wackier, etc.? There are also a few quieter breaks that use samples and synths for a more "electronic" or "programmed" vibe in sparse areas, with some weird bass breaks popping up now and then too (see "Innocent Carnage", among others).? Some of the technical flurries in "Mein Krieg" are pretty cool, but it's usually the chunkier rhythms or moderately fast thrash metal influences seeping in at times that catch my ear.? For the most part it's just too blurry, so there's not that much feeling to the writing despite the playing being tight enough to get by (there's room for reigning in a few rough spots, though).? The breakdown rhythms in "Within the Void" are fucking awesome, and this is actually one of the more promising tunes, but the keyboards totally suck in that one, so what gives!?? The layout looks nice and consistent with crisp text and clean arrangements.? The lyrics are surprisingly brief and somewhat confusing as well, jumping from succinct yet pointed lines like, "Breeding wealth and greed, Throwing up arms in disbelief, In life we're trying freedom, You pollute." to ridiculous content such as, "You're a superstar, It's blow or nothing at all, Go fuck your mullet, man."? What the hell?? Clearly there's a sense of lighthearted humor going on with at least some aspect of this release.? I'm just not into this overall, though.? There are a few killer fucking riffs, but no one song kicks ass from start to finish.? If nothing else they need to toss some of the pinch harmonics and clean up the production values, but... I don't know, I have a really hard time getting into stuff if I can't really sense any feeling or power in the writing.
[Capital Kill]
Running time - 10:52, Tracks: 8
[Notable tracks: Soulside Journey, Within the Void]
Capital Kill Productions - http://www.capitalkill.com
