By: Anders

Posted: Jan 10, 2006

The Aalborg band is now ready with their debut full length after having roamed the Danish underground for quite some years, delivering some okay demo material and some good concerts. It is the Norwegian label Edgerunner that have been lucky enough to catch the boys. ALooP delivers a furious blend of old school melodic thrash with a hardcore edge at times, with some more modern influences shining through once in a while.

The base is delivered by the guitars which deliver aggressive and catchy riffs, infused with good melodies and good hooks once in a while. It is not the most innovative guitar play at any means, but it is hard hitting, catchy, at times groovy and highly effective and energetic. The drumming is furious and all over the place, good beats and rhythm-patterns. The drums are mostly straight in the face of the listener, there's a good variation between a slower pace and a more aggressive double kick up tempo beat, and a lot in between. The bass is not as loud as I remember it from the band's live shows, but it is present at some times and when it can be heard clearly, the play is good. The overall highlight of Aloop though, is the vocals… Sometimes it is hard to believe that they are being delivered by one man, we have the "usual" aggressive and frustrated thrash-like scream, raw and a bit low, but it works and comes through the wall of guitars. As a variation we have a clean and emotional vocal, and that is really good and soulful, a killer vocal, it goes straight through and hit some nerves. Well to sum it up, the vocals compliments the aggressive, yet atmospheric and well-crafted music very well.

The production has been handled by Jacob Hansen and he has done a good job, the sound is heavy and pushes the music very well, the mix is well-balanced, the only thing I could have wished to hear more of, is the bass, besides that a fitting and well-made sound.

It is a good and steam-training debut album Aloop here has made, after the impact the demos had on me, I had never imagined their debut album to kick as much of my ass, as it has done. The tracks are well-crafted and enjoyable, effective and sticks to ones head after the disc has stopped spinning. A good and effective mix of old and new, even though I think the disc mostly will speak to fans of more modern metal, due to the state of the melodic work and the mix of the aggro vocal and the clean emotional vocal. But for sure a band for all fans of thrash to check out, I even think some melodic death metal fans and traditional heavy metallers will enjoy this "Global Crisis".

Rating: 8/10

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