‘Blind…But Alive’ is the third full length album by this French quintet based in Paris and I must admit that this is the first time I’ve ever seen this many guest artists featured on an album I’ve reviewed. Namely Cyd Chassagne (Magoa), Raf Pener (T.A.N.K.), Julien Da Silva (Lokurah), Krys Denhez (Mur) and Mathieu Pascal (Gorod) all did their bit to help out here.
Opening instrumental “Blind…” has a fast pretty lead while being a little prog rocky as it gently builds up a head of steam to make “I Am Not” seem a little less a shock to the system as vocalist L. Chuck D. is joined by Raf Pener for a combination of death and melodic clean vocals over the sharp guitar triplets being played by JP and Michael “Mike” Bry.
Cyd Chassagne gives the vocals a bit of a hardcore edge on “The Scapegoat” while Mathieu Martin’s drumming is metronomic in its precision while constantly stopping before attacking once more.
“The Exploited” has Julien Da Silva’s abrasive vocals added to the mix for good measure while Djiss gets to play a bit of a bass solo in the middle of the song just before Mathieu Pascal’s lead skyrockets for the remainder of the song.
The choppy guitar riff and powerful vocals on “The Self Centered” have a melodic edge to them that give the song a bit of a hard rock feel, but the guitar sound never lets it stray too far from the metal vein with “The Master” following suit.
Some healthy death growls for “Genesis” combined with the blistering pace of the drumming make this easily the fastest song on the album, but it also happens to have the slowest acoustic outro too.
Sadly heading a little too much into screamo territory for me, “The Teacher” still manages to maintain its melodic elements and well-crafted lead.
Final track “… But Alive” is a haunting acoustic guitar track with accompanying lead that varies in pitch and speed as it meanders its way through your aural receptors.
All in all it’s a good album, but at the same time it seems a bit too much like a compilation that something cohesive and that’s what lets it down.
(6/10 Marco Gaminara)
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