The Swedish industrial metallers have come back banging with tunes that blend symphonic metal with nu-metal. There is almost a Lacuna Coil like dynamic in how the male vocals trade off with the sweeter female vocals. Mushroomhead is also a fair point of reference in this regard. This might be hailed as the band's darkest and heaviest album, but to me it sounds brighter almost like anthemic opening credits of an anime series. I do like the groove of "Anti-Savior". The chorus is big and somewhat cheesy if it were not for the male vocals to balance things out. This album is really well produced. All of the sounds are very clean and well-layered.
"Ofelia" is not as carefully thought out in terms of how refined the melodies are. Sure there is a cool breakdown riff, and the electronics are well done, but cool riffs alone does not a good song make is the rule here. I think it is just not dark enough for me. "How to Hate Again" finds a more Disturbed feel possessing the song, despite the female vocals being dominant this time. "God. Demon. Machine" is another flowing streamlined version of what they do. It might not be the most original thing, but they are very good at what they are doing, while I think the previous song is catchier, it's hard to argue against what they are doing here since it is so well executed.
I like robotic vocals leading into "Zero Solace". The chorus is taken over by the female vocals, which are not as interesting as what the more affected vocal was doing as her melodies are so much more euro-pop oriented. The bright anthemic feel they resort to is just to major key happy for me. "Edge of Eden" has a heavier metal to its industrial crunch. A robotic rap works well on the verses until the chorus comes in to spread too much cheer. The song "Reqviem" sounds like metal Abba, and not in the same manner Ghost does. Overall it's a mixed bag for me, but I think they accomplished what they set out to do so for that I will give this album an 8.
No comments:
Post a Comment