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Battered - Battered
Release: 2006Label: [link]Tabu Records[/link]
By: Anders
Posted: May 27, 2006
This Norwegian force has risen from the ashes of the great viking metal band Einherjer, 3 of the members that were a part Einherjer are found in Battered, together with 2 members of Headblock. The metal we are getting force fed when throwing this disc in the player is hell-fuelled old school thrash crossover metal added a few more modern influences, a lethal cocktail that'll make your head bang!
Battered has many good ideas and they show a good flair for writing catchy and flowing songs, there are some strong main riffs, which fixates the listener from the entry point of the songs, to they are done. The guitar has a "thin" without being bad sound, really ripping and really fitting to the style the band is delivering, and to be honest there are some damn good moments delivered by the six strings throughout the album. There are of course also a lot of riffs and leads and so forth sounding a lot like other bands, as the Slayer-like twin leads in 'The Flagellant', to mention one example. The drumming is following the guitars most of the time, not only keeping the rhythm, but delivering the same extravaganza as the axes, most of the time, good technical play, with a lot of good breaks and good fills. The vocals on the album are highly enjoyable as well, a good pretty high pitched crossover style scream is used most of the time, a real good and ear piercing siren, no prisoners, no mercy, just straight ahead vocal onslaught, fitting the universe of Battered really well.
If you had expected an original album, you have expected the wrong thing, the album is as such original in its own way, though the music the band delivers is old school as fuck, and many ideas and such on the album have been recorded before. Though it has been a little while since we have gotten an album like this unleashed. Energetic and ripping, the band loves to play this music, it reeks out of the speakers, together with the hard hitting tones. If you miss the late 80ties and really early 90ties, Battered is here to safe you, this is nostalgic without being covered in dust, old school but still fresh sounding and full of vital power.
Battered has many good ideas and they show a good flair for writing catchy and flowing songs, there are some strong main riffs, which fixates the listener from the entry point of the songs, to they are done. The guitar has a "thin" without being bad sound, really ripping and really fitting to the style the band is delivering, and to be honest there are some damn good moments delivered by the six strings throughout the album. There are of course also a lot of riffs and leads and so forth sounding a lot like other bands, as the Slayer-like twin leads in 'The Flagellant', to mention one example. The drumming is following the guitars most of the time, not only keeping the rhythm, but delivering the same extravaganza as the axes, most of the time, good technical play, with a lot of good breaks and good fills. The vocals on the album are highly enjoyable as well, a good pretty high pitched crossover style scream is used most of the time, a real good and ear piercing siren, no prisoners, no mercy, just straight ahead vocal onslaught, fitting the universe of Battered really well.
If you had expected an original album, you have expected the wrong thing, the album is as such original in its own way, though the music the band delivers is old school as fuck, and many ideas and such on the album have been recorded before. Though it has been a little while since we have gotten an album like this unleashed. Energetic and ripping, the band loves to play this music, it reeks out of the speakers, together with the hard hitting tones. If you miss the late 80ties and really early 90ties, Battered is here to safe you, this is nostalgic without being covered in dust, old school but still fresh sounding and full of vital power.
Rating: 7½/10
[link]Battered[/link] website
Distributed in Denmark and kindly supplied by Target
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