User Ne – Atropa Natura
Dark Symphonies - 12th September 2006
by Tom Strutton
"Inside Atropa Naturayou will find forgotten places, distant times, secret worlds and another dimensions and experiences never lived before". Such is the claim put forward by nine-piece Spanish outfit User Ne(reference: MySpace), whose third album, and first for Dark Symphonies, rounds off a conceptual trilogy begun in 2000 with Nibelem das Uhort. Bold claims indeed, but can User Ne walk the walk like they talk the talk?
Upon receiving Atropa Natura I was anticipating great things, though admittedly this inital judgement was based on the band name, album name and interesting cover art. More fool me for judging a book by its cover, since this anticipation soon vanished when I got my hands on a promotional band photograph of User Ne. A bunch of guys trying to look metal, dressed in an embarrasingly outmoded 1997-2001 era nu-metal fashion (chains included) stand in a half circle around the selling point - an attractive female vocalist!! Now that, my friends, is original. In other pictures of the band some of the guys are wearing black metal face-paint, so I really don't know what image they're going for. Now, if early preconceptions based on the album cover and band name are ill-advised, then one can at least be forgiven for judging these guys on the way they look. Make no mistake about it, User Ne want you to know just how 'metal' they are (detect sarcasm), which is considerably more metal than the next band. But wait! User ne are not just any run of the mill metal band - they have an attractive female vocalist!!! And they play traditional ethnic instruments and melodies too!!! I know sarcasm is a low form of humour but I won't apologise because I feel actually insulted, nay disrespected, that there are bands out there still pedalling this angle. Grrrrr!!! I'm gonna have to go and sit down and take a few deep breaths before I am compelled to smash something in a fit of justified rage.
Right, I'm back. Musically, User Ne and Atropa Natura are not as bad as promotional photos of the band suggest. To counter what may have been an overly subjective preceding paragraph let's devote some time to objective dissection and analysis. Atropa Naturais an attempt at progressive metal/ethnic/folk fusion, in the spirit of Orphaned Land but with less ambition and ultimate success. Rather than sounding fused and homogenous, the mix of contemporary and ancient musical traditions here sounds forced - like two sides of a coin that each have their say but never meet. Such fusion is very difficult to achieve - it is not, I repeat not, achieved by simply putting things together. Atropa Natura mixes metal and traditional folk like oil and water, with one always sitting on top of the other steadfastly refusing to merge and create something potentially beautiful. A few of the tracks, the shorter ones, are solely traditional folk inspired compositions (no metal) and these present the most successful moments on the album, specifically because there modest simplicity avoids the pitfalls of incohesiveness that marr the other tracks. Some may notice, and have issues with, the synthesised orchestral arrangements that pervade Atropa Natura, making the listening experience feel akin to playing Age of Empires. Needless to say that this is distracting and more than a little tragic. On the positive side, the compositional structures themselves are never boring or predictable and each song has its own identity. This is definitely one of Atropa Natura's saving graces. '1, 2, 3, Jari', one of the better tracks, adopts a progressive time signature and has some great moments. More like this please.
In terms of performances there are some that are good, some average and some that let the team down. The drums are standard fare, with the idiomatic double bass use reeking of a contrived attmept to sound 'metal' by bringing thunder to the not-so-thunderous songs. It is a pity that the drums are way too high in the mix, drawing focus away from the other performances (Imagine being at an User Ne rehearsal and standing right next to the drum kit; everything else is audible but faint). The production in general is a very weak point; too much treble and not enough low-end being the main cause for concern. And the metal guitar tone here is just grating. Vocally, User Ne play off the hackneyed device of contrastiong male and female vocal deliveries - female being ethereal and beautiful, and male being coarse and ogre-like. The results, inevitably, are depressing, and only those at the lower end of the intelligence spectrum will find gratification in such uninspired reinforcement of cultural and stylistic stereotypes.
Atropa Natura gets a 4.5/10 because it has a poor production value and its metal moments let down the more ineresting traditional folk moments. On the plus side, I detect a touch of honesty and promise in some of the songwriting. User Ne would do well to work on and refine these aspects, whilst ditching the lame 'look how metal we are' attitude.
4.5/10
UM’s Review Rating Scale
Official User Ne Website
Official Dark Symphonies Website
Dark Symphonies - 12th September 2006
by Tom Strutton
"Inside Atropa Naturayou will find forgotten places, distant times, secret worlds and another dimensions and experiences never lived before". Such is the claim put forward by nine-piece Spanish outfit User Ne(reference: MySpace), whose third album, and first for Dark Symphonies, rounds off a conceptual trilogy begun in 2000 with Nibelem das Uhort. Bold claims indeed, but can User Ne walk the walk like they talk the talk?
Upon receiving Atropa Natura I was anticipating great things, though admittedly this inital judgement was based on the band name, album name and interesting cover art. More fool me for judging a book by its cover, since this anticipation soon vanished when I got my hands on a promotional band photograph of User Ne. A bunch of guys trying to look metal, dressed in an embarrasingly outmoded 1997-2001 era nu-metal fashion (chains included) stand in a half circle around the selling point - an attractive female vocalist!! Now that, my friends, is original. In other pictures of the band some of the guys are wearing black metal face-paint, so I really don't know what image they're going for. Now, if early preconceptions based on the album cover and band name are ill-advised, then one can at least be forgiven for judging these guys on the way they look. Make no mistake about it, User Ne want you to know just how 'metal' they are (detect sarcasm), which is considerably more metal than the next band. But wait! User ne are not just any run of the mill metal band - they have an attractive female vocalist!!! And they play traditional ethnic instruments and melodies too!!! I know sarcasm is a low form of humour but I won't apologise because I feel actually insulted, nay disrespected, that there are bands out there still pedalling this angle. Grrrrr!!! I'm gonna have to go and sit down and take a few deep breaths before I am compelled to smash something in a fit of justified rage.
Right, I'm back. Musically, User Ne and Atropa Natura are not as bad as promotional photos of the band suggest. To counter what may have been an overly subjective preceding paragraph let's devote some time to objective dissection and analysis. Atropa Naturais an attempt at progressive metal/ethnic/folk fusion, in the spirit of Orphaned Land but with less ambition and ultimate success. Rather than sounding fused and homogenous, the mix of contemporary and ancient musical traditions here sounds forced - like two sides of a coin that each have their say but never meet. Such fusion is very difficult to achieve - it is not, I repeat not, achieved by simply putting things together. Atropa Natura mixes metal and traditional folk like oil and water, with one always sitting on top of the other steadfastly refusing to merge and create something potentially beautiful. A few of the tracks, the shorter ones, are solely traditional folk inspired compositions (no metal) and these present the most successful moments on the album, specifically because there modest simplicity avoids the pitfalls of incohesiveness that marr the other tracks. Some may notice, and have issues with, the synthesised orchestral arrangements that pervade Atropa Natura, making the listening experience feel akin to playing Age of Empires. Needless to say that this is distracting and more than a little tragic. On the positive side, the compositional structures themselves are never boring or predictable and each song has its own identity. This is definitely one of Atropa Natura's saving graces. '1, 2, 3, Jari', one of the better tracks, adopts a progressive time signature and has some great moments. More like this please.
In terms of performances there are some that are good, some average and some that let the team down. The drums are standard fare, with the idiomatic double bass use reeking of a contrived attmept to sound 'metal' by bringing thunder to the not-so-thunderous songs. It is a pity that the drums are way too high in the mix, drawing focus away from the other performances (Imagine being at an User Ne rehearsal and standing right next to the drum kit; everything else is audible but faint). The production in general is a very weak point; too much treble and not enough low-end being the main cause for concern. And the metal guitar tone here is just grating. Vocally, User Ne play off the hackneyed device of contrastiong male and female vocal deliveries - female being ethereal and beautiful, and male being coarse and ogre-like. The results, inevitably, are depressing, and only those at the lower end of the intelligence spectrum will find gratification in such uninspired reinforcement of cultural and stylistic stereotypes.
Atropa Natura gets a 4.5/10 because it has a poor production value and its metal moments let down the more ineresting traditional folk moments. On the plus side, I detect a touch of honesty and promise in some of the songwriting. User Ne would do well to work on and refine these aspects, whilst ditching the lame 'look how metal we are' attitude.
4.5/10
UM’s Review Rating Scale
Official User Ne Website
Official Dark Symphonies Website
