It has been a long time since I reviewed new stuff, after the excellent live album (out via Alfa Matrix). Apparently they returned to DWA and sound pretty sharp (at least in the beginning)!
Mardyakhor is a short but sharp guitar minded intro with metal influences. Witness the Fall goes further, harder and heavier: more screaming and a bit of electronics (with a tiny layer of dubstep). I got the feeling that the live rage has emerged in the studio. It sounds more straight forward, giving strong punches in the face. Insight has some breakbeats, goes up and down, rages, takes some breath before throwing some punches in an industrial/metal way. Make Me Dissappear sounds a bit like as if mixed by Marilyn Manson: the same sound and degenerated vocals. In The Witch House mixes heavy metal with industrial, but the tempo is a bit too slow and the electronics are slowing it down rather than heating it up.
Giving up The Ghost renders perfectly the drummer, but could have speeded up a bit more. Don’t give up the fight, get the rage going and simply forget to breath. Sadly that is not what we get. Hell and Back gets some extra female backings and even classical instruments, but again: I don’t feel it got the right tempo. I feel like I need to scream: faster, louder and harder (like in the first tracks), as if the energy has gone after a few tracks. Death Walks With Us and Kingdom of Fire are nice titles, but that’s it: seems like Freakangel is in need of an extra boost. Devotion is the last track and fades out before you even noticed it.
I must be honest and give in that it has been long time since I have been so disappointed. The album started perfectly, but after that it feels like slowly getting in need of extra fuel and inspiration. I feel like some extra days of rest before coming back to the recording session would have helped a bit, together with an inspiratory. This is a wake-up call from a fan!
View their excellent live show here:
