Armageddon Death Squad - IMPALED NAZARENE
HIGH PITCH SCREAMS WOW, I SAW THE VIDEO CLIP..AT 3AM
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Impaled Nazarene "All That You Fear" CD
7/10 - [Osmose]
Damn, the longstanding Finnish black metal icons are infusing more of a hardcore/punk influence than ever on this one. They've still got the fierce sneers and blazing speeds you'd associated with black metal, but the overall tone is a lot different than that in some of these songs. Hell, one listen to the awesome "Armageddon Death Squad" (which musically sounds not unlike The Exploited on crack) proves that. There are some slower tracks with melodic leads, like "The Endless War", and "Curse of the Dead Medusa" is pretty much textbook fast, melodic black metal, but there are a lot of subtle chord progressions and bass runs throughout these types of songs that sort of walk that line between metal and a driving sort of punk feel, but in a good way that does make sense. I like this better than their last few records for sure. I don't know what it is about it, but the overall feel of the music is just stronger. The faster tracks still have some powerful riffs and a good sense of atmosphere, the more diverse tracks stand out without feeling out of place, etc. Some of the shortest songs like "Halo of Flies" just blaze past in less than three minutes, complete with some obscenely fast solo runs. I have no strong feelings about the sound quality. It's good. The bass tone is excellent, the guitars are heavy enough to work, the vocals are kept in check, and even though the drums are insanely clinical and unnatural, they're mixed well enough to get by. I think the layout pretty much blows. I don't know, a band of this stature should be way past using pentagrams and blood all over the place, and the way the worms are superimposed all over the place is cheesy. I'm not into it. As usual the band poses in full blown metal style with handguns and plenty of alcohol, so no surprise there. Lyrically there are ample references to Satan, violence, war, and all that stuff but titles like "The Maggot Crusher" and "Goat Seeds of Doom" should give you an idea that you're not in for rocket science here. I've never been a huge fan of this band, but they're certainly not bad, and even after all these years they've got some juice left. Longtime fans with an open mind should take note
Running time - 42:44, Tracks: 13
[Notable tracks: Armageddon Death Squad, Curse of the Dead Medusa, Suffer in Silence]
HIGH PITCH SCREAMS WOW, I SAW THE VIDEO CLIP..AT 3AM
===================================
Impaled Nazarene "All That You Fear" CD
7/10 - [Osmose]
Damn, the longstanding Finnish black metal icons are infusing more of a hardcore/punk influence than ever on this one. They've still got the fierce sneers and blazing speeds you'd associated with black metal, but the overall tone is a lot different than that in some of these songs. Hell, one listen to the awesome "Armageddon Death Squad" (which musically sounds not unlike The Exploited on crack) proves that. There are some slower tracks with melodic leads, like "The Endless War", and "Curse of the Dead Medusa" is pretty much textbook fast, melodic black metal, but there are a lot of subtle chord progressions and bass runs throughout these types of songs that sort of walk that line between metal and a driving sort of punk feel, but in a good way that does make sense. I like this better than their last few records for sure. I don't know what it is about it, but the overall feel of the music is just stronger. The faster tracks still have some powerful riffs and a good sense of atmosphere, the more diverse tracks stand out without feeling out of place, etc. Some of the shortest songs like "Halo of Flies" just blaze past in less than three minutes, complete with some obscenely fast solo runs. I have no strong feelings about the sound quality. It's good. The bass tone is excellent, the guitars are heavy enough to work, the vocals are kept in check, and even though the drums are insanely clinical and unnatural, they're mixed well enough to get by. I think the layout pretty much blows. I don't know, a band of this stature should be way past using pentagrams and blood all over the place, and the way the worms are superimposed all over the place is cheesy. I'm not into it. As usual the band poses in full blown metal style with handguns and plenty of alcohol, so no surprise there. Lyrically there are ample references to Satan, violence, war, and all that stuff but titles like "The Maggot Crusher" and "Goat Seeds of Doom" should give you an idea that you're not in for rocket science here. I've never been a huge fan of this band, but they're certainly not bad, and even after all these years they've got some juice left. Longtime fans with an open mind should take note
Running time - 42:44, Tracks: 13
[Notable tracks: Armageddon Death Squad, Curse of the Dead Medusa, Suffer in Silence]
