Absynthium
Hatestorm (ep)
Wydane przez Self-financedRok wydania 2005Kraj BelgiumNapisał Wouter7
Finally Belgian death metal combo Absynthium have released their first EP. Although hardly scoring on the originality chart the band manages to retain their own identity. 'The Void' kicks off this record and displays a clear Amon Amarth direction: melodic riffing, varied epic drumwork and interesting vocal work. 'Ominous Future Present' on the other hand bring Hypocrisy and Arch Enemy (especially melodywise) to mind. Especially the mid piece is far the most interesting part of this track, as the rest seems to be build on the conventional melodies that show up on about each record of this kind. 'Everdark Anthem' is a death metal track in the classic sense, hearing this track feels like 1993 again. A good track that is only taken down by the narrative clean vocals towards the middle. The clean vocals aren't bad per definition, but they hardly raise the track above mediocrity since they seem to serve no purpose other than to display some kind of vocal variety. They only appear once on the entire EP seems to consolidate this. 'I.Hate' and 'Nonexistence' both are less melodic than the majority of this EP. 'I.Hate' is as straightforward as they come, whereas 'Nonexistence' is slightly more melodic due to the guitar work. All in all, it reminded me of that old Carcass feeling. Overall, Absynthium have delivered an interesting EP in this genre. With above average compositions, technical proficient performing and a rather impressive production for a debut. As with any debut release, there are also a few problems with this disc. First of all, the guitar leads deserve to be a bit more highlighted. At this point they are buried in the rest of the mix. The drums, on the other hand, are too loud in comparison with the rest of the instruments, especially the snare drums suffers from this problem from to time to time. Taken everything in account, "Hatestorm" will surely appeal to fans of mid nineties Swedish death metal with modern touches.
absynthium.bokkerijders.be
