This is the third album by the 7-year-old quintet from Umeå, and the first with the current line-up. Musically they are fast & heavy thrash with gruff vocals rather than clean, with the occasional growl added for good measure.
At first, I thought I was listening to the intro to Metallica’s “Damage Inc.”, but that was rather short-lived once the actual riff for “Apokalpys” began, as there isn’t much similarity at all, bar the fact that both are blisteringly fast thrash riffs backed by hyper intense drumming. There is however a rather mellow bridge here where initially we have a bass followed by a lead guitar solo before the pace increases once more to end the sound with a roar.
A pleasantly chunky guitar riff accompanied by a galloping drum marches you into “Only War” where Martin Runnzell’s vocals are drawn our roars while a second melody is played on the guitar the meanders into leads then back to its main riff.
The almost clean vocals, with a rough edge, are sung at full tilt as Ludvig Johansson & Viggo Svanberg’s guitars fight for supremacy on “Belligerent and Hostile” breaking into lead trade-offs at high speed then back into the fast rhythm without missing a note.
“Into the Unknown” feels almost slow as it chugs along with Jon Skäre going from rolling fills to quick blasts, while maintaining a steady gallop of triplets on the kick drums as backing for the multiple lead solos that litter the second half of the song.
Wasting no time, they rip through the 2 minute “No Place to Hide”, with its blistering drum beat & finger shredding guitar riffs, before easing into the choppier “Knives”, where Patrik Wall’s bass is clearly the instrument the song is built around.
The vocals alternate between shouts and roars on “Let Them Burn”, with a couple good screams in there for good measure, as the steady but fast drumbeat has the guitars flickering between leads breaks & rhythm riffs constantly.
The choral, as in multiple vocalists not choir, chorus works really well on “Assassinate” as it bounces back and forth between the vocalist and vocalists to give the feel of a bit of a stand-off.
The album ends with its longest song, “Counting Bones” which opens with a pleasant lead over a slowish riff, but as that increases in ferocity, so do the drums & when the vocals come in it really takes off at breakneck speed. It does end on a pretty acoustic coda, which is a pleasant balm after the intensity of the album as a whole.
(8/10 Marco Gaminara)
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