Panic Cell - Bitter Part Of Me
2004 - Casket Records
By Philip Whitehouse
Go to the Casket Records web site.
Hailing for darkest Kent in England, Panic Cell have emerged from impressing the hell out of all and sundry with their live shows to release their debut album through Casket Records (home of such diverse, quality acts as Devolved, Lipid, Zero Cipher and Landmine Spring), and it's a bit of a corker!
A punchy and powerful blend of traditional, hard-edged rock value and more modern immediacy and heaviness, Panic Cell sound somewhat like Pantera, Soil and Alice In Chains in a free-for-all cage match. Catchy, hook-filled riffage with a solid, chunky production couples with melodic lead work and the fairly impressive range of the vocalist, blending Phil Anselmo-esque aggro-shoutage with more melodic clean singing in a Layne Staley-stylee. The Dave Chang production serves the band well - the bass growls and grumbles along while the down-tuned guitars pack a hefty wallop. The drums are clear in the mix also, although the drumming is occasionally a tad uninspiring - fairly simple four to the floor beats abound, but they serve their purpose in punctuating the songs.
The near-forgotten tradition of the obligatory power-ballad has been reintroduced here too, in the form of album highlight 'Thousand Words', which is reminiscent of Pantera's 'This Love' with its laid-back clean-guitar picking and kick-in-the-teeth chorus. All this is great, but there isn't too much in the way of radical originality about the release - there isn't really anything that makes you stand up and shout 'these guys are gonna be huge!', and considering the mainstream's current obsession with screamo and the like, one can't help but wonder whether Panic Cell may have missed their window of opportunity somewhat.
Regardless of this, however, this is a solid, consistent album. While they might not make anybody's 'favourite band' lists, they at least will find a considerable fan base amongst those eager for some commercially-inclined metal with some balls to come along.
7/10
2004 - Casket Records
By Philip Whitehouse
Go to the Casket Records web site.
Hailing for darkest Kent in England, Panic Cell have emerged from impressing the hell out of all and sundry with their live shows to release their debut album through Casket Records (home of such diverse, quality acts as Devolved, Lipid, Zero Cipher and Landmine Spring), and it's a bit of a corker!
A punchy and powerful blend of traditional, hard-edged rock value and more modern immediacy and heaviness, Panic Cell sound somewhat like Pantera, Soil and Alice In Chains in a free-for-all cage match. Catchy, hook-filled riffage with a solid, chunky production couples with melodic lead work and the fairly impressive range of the vocalist, blending Phil Anselmo-esque aggro-shoutage with more melodic clean singing in a Layne Staley-stylee. The Dave Chang production serves the band well - the bass growls and grumbles along while the down-tuned guitars pack a hefty wallop. The drums are clear in the mix also, although the drumming is occasionally a tad uninspiring - fairly simple four to the floor beats abound, but they serve their purpose in punctuating the songs.
The near-forgotten tradition of the obligatory power-ballad has been reintroduced here too, in the form of album highlight 'Thousand Words', which is reminiscent of Pantera's 'This Love' with its laid-back clean-guitar picking and kick-in-the-teeth chorus. All this is great, but there isn't too much in the way of radical originality about the release - there isn't really anything that makes you stand up and shout 'these guys are gonna be huge!', and considering the mainstream's current obsession with screamo and the like, one can't help but wonder whether Panic Cell may have missed their window of opportunity somewhat.
Regardless of this, however, this is a solid, consistent album. While they might not make anybody's 'favourite band' lists, they at least will find a considerable fan base amongst those eager for some commercially-inclined metal with some balls to come along.
7/10
Good review
