Humm, seems Urkraft hails from Denmark, does that mean… oh yeah that’s on the north… so? it must be Death Metal ehhehe, kidding or not, Urkraft brings us a interesting mix of Melodic Death Metal with a but load of thrash into the mix, not that I’m unfamiliar with the mix, but i actually don’t remember someone that might fit, for comparison i mean, maybe… At the Gates? … well no, no matter, so here comes “The Inhuman Aberration”, its not their first album, but it’s my first listen, and probably yours as well, so lets have a look.

It all starts with “Too Strong For the Strongest Lord”, hummm, interesting, a bit industrial meets thrash meets death, it’s actually good, not brilliant, but solid, nice touches with the atmospheric stuff, “This Great Summer” is a bit deja vu? i can swear I’ve listen to the starting riff, somewhere, nevertheless another good track, very smooth and by the numbers, “The Only Gods” is very similar to the first track, great drive and great synth work, with a somewhat interesting solo, then comes the title track “The Inhuman Aberration”, much more thrashy, all the way through, again good, again not great, “Open Gate” is way more interesting, great pace and a bit more technical than the rest, combines almost perfectly their blend of death/thrash, “Come No Tomorrow” is also interesting with more synth work, “Watch your Own Eyes” is by the numbers again, “Liberation” is more thrashy again, i actually enjoy more when they go for their more thrash side, “Forsaken” is more of the same, good stuff, “The Pressure of Our Jaws” finishes it off nicely, thrash all the way through.

Two things come to mind, first they are a bit too straightforward and a bit too predictable, to the point of being eerie the way i can predict whats going to happen next, well it’s like milking cows, it’s all good, but it’s nothing new, always with the guitar solos at the predictable places, always the chorus in place, not that i don’t enjoy it, this is good stuff, but I’ll probably won’t keep it for that long in rotation, so if your into thrashier death metal, you might want to check it out, if your not, you might want to check Meshuggah’s latest heheheh.

Official Site Urkraft.dk

Urkraft - The Inhuman Aberration

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Why am i picking this one up? well hehehe, after that review of By Night, i checked them out and found …Trendkill?, well it has 2 members of By Night and the Drummer from Anata, interesting, hummm, well they play a sort of hardcore meets metalcore (wait that sounded too bad to be true…), i guess but i can point out right away that they sound a lot like they are not from the same continent as you might aspect, if i didn’t check it out, i could have swore they were Americans, with all the good and bad that could come from it, so let’s have a look on “No Longer Buried”

Oh shit, this is… nothing especial… the album starts with “Judge Me Now” so i will, it’s not bad per say, it reminds me of a mixture of Hatebreed and Machine Head, its catchy but not to the point of infatuation, my initial feeling gets right on the money with “Dedication”, its very moshable and enjoyable just like Hatebreed, simplistic and straight to the point with some interesting touches outside of the straight up commercial hardcore, “Timeless Quality” is more of the same, mosh bouncy music, loads of screaming, “Break The Silence” yeah you guessed it right, more of the same, at least they changed it, with a bit more Hardcore, “One Step Closer” as some more bouncy riffage and some interesting guitar work, nice one, “Walking Dead” is almost straight hardcore, “Headshot” … seems like they are losing steam, it’s quite a boring hardcore track, “From The Beginning” humm, more of the same, it seems as it goes on, the album gets more hardcorish, I’m hopping for a group shout chorus on the next one hehehehe, “Nothing For Granted” , well not chorus shout outs, but pretty straight vanilla hardcore.

This actually feels like a striped down “By Night” Album, by stripped down, i don’t mean worse (but in this case it is), i mean they took much more things than the things they added, and it feels like it, a good try and enjoyable couple of listening, production wise its good, the guitars sound pretty hardcore, the drumming is…ok, the vocals are normal, the rest sucks hehehe, I’m kidding, well its a good effort and if your into this, you might as well give it a try.

Official Site Trendkill.se | Video for Break The Silence

Trendkill - Dedication
Trendkill - Walking Dead

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Meshuggah are back! Well, not really. They just released «Nothing» again. So… Is it just another stupid re-release in digipack with a Japanese bonus track? No, this is a remastered version of «Nothing». Well, to be honest, remastered version do suck most of the times. Let’s see what about this one!

First of all, we have new cover art and a bonus DVD. But let’s dig a little deeper. Basically, we have all the rhythm guitar re-recorded, some subtle changes in some tracks – like the end of “Closed Eye Visuals” and “Nebulous” was slowed down [Nebulous... Hmmm that sounds familiar somehow... Hm! Weird].
The drums were also tightened down and mixed from scratch [and I might add: a little over-compressed].
In the vocals we now have some delays here and there.

Is it good? Well… yes and no. Some tracks are great but… some tracks are way worst. In my humble “MESHUGGAH ARE GODS” opinion.
Before the track-by-track comparison, two things stand right away: The rhythm guitars are brutal. When comparing, the old guitars sound like crap. The new ones are very tight, very clean and heavy. On the other hand, the drums sound more mechanical and “hidden” under all that grooviness – particularly the cymbals.

“Stengah”. This track sounds great on some parts. Much more heavy and clean that the previous version. But, there it is… The drums…… The original mix had the cymbals rocking all the way! I really enjoyed that. Hearing all the cymbals in that syncopated rhythms, that was fun. Now the cymbals are quiet down… But that’s not the worst in this track. Didn’t enjoyed very much the removal of the clean chords right before the verse. That creepy chords were great. Too bad…
“Rational Gaze”… Well… This track sounds good. Didn’t notice any changes on this one. Just that, it’s less groovy somehow. Can’t explain it. The guitars sound heavier and cleaner but… Less groovy.
“Perpetual Black Second” did lose on the drums too. I loved that cymbals on the beginning. Now they are down there, under that monster guitar sound. It’s a pity. Delays were added on the vocals giving more power to the chorus.
“Closed Eye Visuals” it’s nice. Subtle change in the end with a re-recorded fill melody. The drum rolls sound worst [like in all other tracks...].
The beginning of “Glints Collide” lacks on the drums. That power groovy organic drums are now a synthetic compressed sound.
“Organic Shadows” it’s an OK track. Didn’t notice any big difference…
“Straws Pulled at Random” is one of the best “new-sound” tracks. Very powerful indeed. The new guitars do squash like a bug the old ones. I do miss that china cymbal pounding all the way tough - right after the intro.
In “Spasm” we have another big loss. Once again, the drums… of course. In the middle part there’s a drum solo kind of thing. Well, with the new drum mix it sounds very “plastic”. The old mix was way more organic.
“Nebulous” is the winner of the new mix. Why? Because it’s my nickname ^^ Now honestly, the new mix is great. It’s slower, heavier and punches you right on the stomach.
“Obsidian” is the final track and it was extended. Never listen to this track many times on the old version, at least on it’s full length, but I must confess that, after the 8 minute therapy, listening to “Stengah” again is very refreshing.

Final notes about the new «Nothing»: the guitars are great, the drums are… worst. Nevertheless, I like having both options. If I’m into some drum madness I’ll listen to «Nothing» v.1. If I’m into some crazy sick guitar groove insanity I’ll listen to «Nothing» v.2.
If this is your first contact with «Nothing» I recommend the new version. Way better sound and you’ll not miss that drum sound I was talking about. Ignorance is bliss.

Meshuggah - Straws Pulled at Random

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