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Archived Reviews
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After so many excellent releases from Noitekk this year I was really looking forward to this American trio's debut seeing 2006 out with a bang. The blood-spattered cover & hard, no-nonsense lyrics that adorn the inner cover all served to increase the anticipation that this would be a stunner fit to knock the socks off everyone who heard it which begs the question that, given that all the cards were stacked in their favour, where did it all go wrong? For me, the trouble is that, while the lyrics have plenty of horror & hate in them, the music follows suit all too infrequently, lacking, for long parts, even a fraction of the energy needed to evoke the hatred expressed by Khris' vocals & failing to grab the attention as a result. The album begins well enough with "Abyss" & the title track kicking proceedings off in suitably energetic & dramatic style & while "Flat-Line" has a nicely emotive edge & "Diagnosis" provides further dramatic tension & although "Nightmare" has strong club potential, it's impossible to get away from the feeling that there's something missing here. This feeling is heightened by the collective nadir that is "Dark Reality", "Killer Instinct", the Suicide Commando-like "Naildriven" & "Disgraceful Treason", all of which just seem to amble around for ages & lack anything approaching a spark of genius. I have to say that I was bored stiff at this point (something that I never thought I'd say about a hard EBM album) & it was only the livelier approach of "Maximum Damnation" that revived my interest although this was too little too late to save this disappointing album. In fairness I know people who totally disagree with me on this but I found it only sporadically impressive & that's not nearly enough to warrant a recommendation. Check out the band's labelmates Life Cried & Die Sektor for real 'hellektro' newcomer inspiration instead. |
