This unusual and mysterious band seem to have courted controversy since their inception, espousing a highly unique and slightly impenetrable philosophy in which God, nature, animals, good and evil seem to be the same thing (although I may have misunderstood their ideas). It is even rumoured that band members belong to the Animal Liberation Front, certainly the members (whose identities and nationalities are kept a secret) look like some militant organisation, resplendent in camouflage, and scary masks. On the band’s website, it claims that ‘Animals and Nature will rule the planet again with their integrity’, and that several factors will come together to bring forth the destruction of humanity. The artwork and symbolism used by the band is a little misleading however; from the look of the slightly naff front cover art, you would think that they were a bog-standard black metal band, complete with spiky logo, and a picture of Jesus on the cross surrounded by wolves.

Anyway, enough about the peculiar philosophy; the actual music is much more listener-friendly than I would expected. I guess you should never judge a book by its cover after all… There are elements of black metal to be found here, and the opening track `Keep Dreaming’ kicks off with a wash of fast-picked chords. However, TWOP are no black metal band, and after less than a minute, the band’s true musical credentials come to the fore.

What we have here, for the most part, is modern, Swedish-influenced death metal, with several other modern elements thrown in for good measure. The rhythms are mid-paced and chunky, often with sections that sound like breakdowns. There are few blast beats, and not much of anything too extreme, but the drumming is solid and well-played (and sometimes sounds like a drum machine). The guitar work is crunchy and for the most part, fairly obvious, but occasionally TWOP do inject some creativity into the proceedings. In between the crunchy, tuneless start-stop sections there is some drifting, almost hypnotic guitar work in places, as well as the occasional foray into jarring, discordant, Meshuggah territory. There is also a slight industrial feel throughout the three tracks on the EP, which does add a little something extra to the otherwise unremarkable music. Mostly, however, it reminds me of the less inspired, less tuneful moments of latter-day Arch Enemy and their clones.

The Arch Enemy comparisons don’t stop there; Tiral Skardal does a fairly passable Angela Gossow impression, although she actually has a slightly more aggressive voice in my opinion. Where it falls down to my ears, is that it lacks any kind expression, and is fairly one-dimensional.

To be frank, the music does not live up to the hype of the band. They may have a strange world view, and odd-looking masks, but the music is a fairly ordinary mix of modern Swedish-style melodic death/metalcore. There are a few flashes of creativity and inspiration across the three songs, but they are not enough to render this EP particularly memorable or noteworthy.

(6/10, Jon Butlin)

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