By: Anders

Posted: Sep 23, 2005

This Swedish band has been haunting the underground for a while and this is their third full length album. I have heard a lot of mixed things about the band, and to be honest I haven't bothered to check them out myself. Though now when the promo of the band's new album ended in my post box, I didn't have much choice, than to throw the CD in the player and wait for the impact.

At first the music seems kind of generic and many of the parts had some sort of resemblance to other music I had heard through the times. The base is in heavy and neck-snapping thrash, there are some good riffs, which make one wants to 'bang. There a tons of swirling melodies, many of them good and catchy, even though it gets too much once in a while. On top of it all, there are industrial atmospheres, cold and machine-like riffing and drums. The mix of the organic and "normal" thrash sound and the cold industrial parts are well done, and gives a nice alternation. To top it off we have the harsh vocals from session vocalist Jens Broman, who usually delivers bile in The Defaced and Hatelight. He does a good job on this album, both the aggressive scream and the cleaner parts are acceptable.

The compositions on the album are okay, pretty catchy and with some good hooks. There are quite some parts which reminds of what other bands has done, though that isn't that bad, if one are into this style of modern thrash with melodic tendencies, then this album is quite good and lasting. The band is also showing off their ability to compose and play technical music, and that is a task they complete well, the music seldom looses momentum, due to the technical playing and breaks. The production is another thing to highlight on this release, it has a nice crunch and all the different parts the band play, have a nice sound and feel to them. The instruments are well divided and there are plenty of room for the mainriffs, the melodic leads, the solos, the slaying drums and the thundering bass, which gets a lot of space and shows it ugly face all the time. The album is produced by Jocke Skog from Clawfinger, and once in a while, the music and sound does bring back memories from the early Clawfinger albums.  

As time went by I got pretty surprised by this album, it showed to be a good neo-thrasher with some balls. If the band keeps on this path and develop their style and gets rid of the too obvious inspirations at times, I'll for sure follow them in the future. If you feel intrigued by the words above, go down to your dealer and catch a listen to "The Grand Machinery"!

Rating: 7/10

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