Japanese electrometallers Baal already have a couple of EPs out and have done a stint in the USA and this debut sees the bands aggro infested electro mechanized ear battering hitting the world. “Shurado” which means “Scent Of Carnage” showcases the skills of Mikito (guitars and programming), U-Tarou (vocals) and Alan (drums) executing militaristic bombardments of fused electronic and metal riffs and rhythms. A phase appeared in bands remixing their songs into this style in the 90s with Fear Factory being prime examples of it with their “Remanufacture” and “Fear Is The Mindkiller” releases and those two outputs are pretty close to what Baal have achieved musically though the heaviness and downright angst ridden vocals from U-Tarou are riddled with tantrum like shouts, an aspect I feel could be reined in by deploying some cleaner sections for accessibility. “Purge” opens the release with an alarm and resulting surge of menace with industrialised beating especially from the drums. Listening to “Dead Sector” my mind was wandering to films like The Matrix when the major chase sequences are in full force.
Much of this album is very similar overall and there lies its problem as by the time you’ve got to “Outrage” you start to think, will there be any variation in the speed or tempo at all, and for the most part no there isn’t, residing in jack hammering beats, raging vocals and down tuned guitar parts, that wouldn’t be amiss on a Die Krupps album, when they added guitar parts. There were a few bands around over a decade ago that released albums packed with modernised electronics set to metal backgrounds such as Statix-X, Spineshank and Powerman 5000, but whereas those acts released ear friendly metal candy Baal curb this tendency and prefer to record brutish binary beasts instead. The amount of bass on this album is massive and suitable for the metal club night reverberation as on “The Iron Age”. Did I enjoy listening to this album, yes, would I want to buy it or put it on my playlist, no, but the odd tune might get played on a mix when driving to a gig with my friends just for something different.
6/10 (Martin Harris)
https://www.facebook.com/pages/BAAL-Japan/108566889217008
18/02/2014 at 12:03 am
BEEN WAITING FOR THIS FOR SO LONG!!!!!