This album seems to be about everyone else except the band themselves. Just because they’re French does not mean that they have to sound like Gojira or Dagoba, but with that image stored up, the comparison is then drawn with In Flames, Iron Maiden and Machine Head.
The Scandinavian melodic style here is unmistakeable. While we’re on comparisons, the clattery thrash energy of the opener “Nomophobia” reminds me of Sonic Syndicate. It’s audience-inciting stuff, but not especially inventive. “Wisest” is typically fiery. It’s like an express train thundering and battering its way through town with guitar flourishes to beef it up, but there’s something missing. These songs were passing me by. The energy level doesn’t change much. Even the Mediterranean-style instrumental “Haeven” is predictable and part of the formula which was being computed to my ears. “Dereliction” returns to dark and aggressive territory but it’s nothing outstanding. What I was hearing was one melodic thrash bash after another. There’s no soul or character. “Dereliction” and the final track “Forefathers” have the intensity and growly vocal sound of Amon Amarth, but like everything else on this album, there were no claws to hook me in or make me want to explode with passion. Heaviness, a few guitar solos and melody alone are not enough to generate passion.
“I Feel Nothing” is an unfortunate title for this album as that is how I felt about it. It has no original values. After listening to this album a couple of times, I played some Loch Vostok. Their music is full of flavour. Obdurated’s “I Feel Nothing” is more like wallpaper. And wallpaper, I find, isn’t very interesting.
(4/10 Andrew Doherty)
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