Communic
Payment Of Existence ()
Wydane przez Nuclear Blast RecordsRok wydania Kraj NorwayNapisał Wouter7
On their third record Norwegian progressive metallers Communic make a synthesis of the preceding two records. "Payment Of Existence" is once again stripped bare and minimal in its song structures much like the band's revered 2005 debut "Conspiracy In Mind" while integrating the exquisite riffing, harmonies and melodies of their second record "Waves Of Visual Decay". Compared to the band's earlier records "Payment Of Existence" has lush vocal harmonies and frontman Oddleif Stensland is really coming into his own on this album. Overall, "Payment Of Existence" is more straightforward and heavier while retaining Communic's known aggressive angular riffs and progressive leanings in their clean melodic guitar sections. Recorded at the famed Hansen Studios in Ribe, Denmark with producer Jacob Hansen "Payment Of Existence" comes with a crunchy high end and wide sounding production that is the best the band have had to date. The artwork by Jan Yrlund (ex-Ancient Rites) is stylistically different from the former two works by Anthony Clarkson and Mathias Noren. While "Payment Of Existence" is not radically different from Communic's previous two records, it doesn't show the same amount of songwriting progression, technical finesse and growth. It's absolutely imperative that Communic make their next album their magnum opus, because at this point they are standing still. It would be waste to see a promising and instrumentally gifted band like this slip into meaningless regression and eventually fade out.
www.communic.org
