A Traitor Like Judas - Nightmare Inc.
Dockyard 1 Records - CD DY100160 - 2006
By Philip Whitehouse
I've listened to this album a fair few times now. I usually give each album three or four full spins before embarking on a review, but Nightmare Inc. has received more. Not because it's that amazing an album, but because I want to be sure I'm not listening to a different album to everyone else. Do a Google search for reviews of this record - while they're pretty much all positive, I think they've all missed something, unless I've gone mad and am hearing something that isn't there.
To these ears, this German thrash/metalcore troupe sound like Lamb Of God. As in, a lot like Lamb Of God. The lockstepped kick and rhythm guitars, the song structures, the drum fills, the riffage - all of it, to me, sounds like Lamb Of God. Okay, so it's infused with a somewhat more European sense of melody and some particularly dextrous lead work, and the vocals rely more on incomprehensible, demon-possessed screams than Randy Blythe's pan-scouring howl - but still, it sounds like Lamb Of God. The passage from 2:50 to 3:14 in the title track 'Nightmare Inc.' sounds too close to the closing section of 'One Gun' from Ashes Of The Wake for comfort, for instance.
Whether its influence or coincidence, I don't know. There are moments when the band manage to step from beneath the aforementioned act's shadow, and this is when they really come into their own, utilising harmonised guitars and more melodious chord progressions to conjure a wall of sound that complements the mechanised thrashing nicely - see 'A Good Day To Die', or the closing of 'To The Bones' for examples of this. The production is spot-on, capturing a thick yet cutting guitar tone, a tight and pummelling drum sound, and a driving bass tone. The band's musicianship is unquestionably proficient, and the material, taken in and of itself, is very good. However, with a sound so close to Lamb Of God's, it's hard to do anything but compare them to that group - and, as entertaining as Nightmare Inc. may be, it's not as satisfying a listen as Ashes Of The Wake - although it may almost be on a par with As The Palaces Burn.
7/10
UM's Review Rating Scale
A Traitor Like Judas' Official Website
Dockyard 1 Records' Official Website
Dockyard 1 Records - CD DY100160 - 2006
By Philip Whitehouse
I've listened to this album a fair few times now. I usually give each album three or four full spins before embarking on a review, but Nightmare Inc. has received more. Not because it's that amazing an album, but because I want to be sure I'm not listening to a different album to everyone else. Do a Google search for reviews of this record - while they're pretty much all positive, I think they've all missed something, unless I've gone mad and am hearing something that isn't there.
To these ears, this German thrash/metalcore troupe sound like Lamb Of God. As in, a lot like Lamb Of God. The lockstepped kick and rhythm guitars, the song structures, the drum fills, the riffage - all of it, to me, sounds like Lamb Of God. Okay, so it's infused with a somewhat more European sense of melody and some particularly dextrous lead work, and the vocals rely more on incomprehensible, demon-possessed screams than Randy Blythe's pan-scouring howl - but still, it sounds like Lamb Of God. The passage from 2:50 to 3:14 in the title track 'Nightmare Inc.' sounds too close to the closing section of 'One Gun' from Ashes Of The Wake for comfort, for instance.
Whether its influence or coincidence, I don't know. There are moments when the band manage to step from beneath the aforementioned act's shadow, and this is when they really come into their own, utilising harmonised guitars and more melodious chord progressions to conjure a wall of sound that complements the mechanised thrashing nicely - see 'A Good Day To Die', or the closing of 'To The Bones' for examples of this. The production is spot-on, capturing a thick yet cutting guitar tone, a tight and pummelling drum sound, and a driving bass tone. The band's musicianship is unquestionably proficient, and the material, taken in and of itself, is very good. However, with a sound so close to Lamb Of God's, it's hard to do anything but compare them to that group - and, as entertaining as Nightmare Inc. may be, it's not as satisfying a listen as Ashes Of The Wake - although it may almost be on a par with As The Palaces Burn.
7/10
UM's Review Rating Scale
A Traitor Like Judas' Official Website
Dockyard 1 Records' Official Website
