99
times out of 100 I politely refuse a request to review an album that is already
more than a year and a half old. Two reasons why I made an exeption, first
because the band hails from my own provence and if I refused to do the
review I had to look over my shoulder for the rest of my life. Second and even
more important is the relevance and the quality of the music on this CD. If this
cd had have been released today, my opinion about it wouldn't be any
different.
Some might think that this is a young new band, but they are wrong.
The band already started back in 1997 and released a demo, a MCD and a promo. In
that period they gained some popularity and shared the stage with bands like
Deicide, Gorefest and Arch Enemy. Due to line-up changes in 2006, only founding
member Douwe Talma (drums) remained as original member. In 2007 he started
recording this full-length album, but due to a whole bunch of tribulations, which
caused a lot of delay it was finally finished at the end of 2012. Together with
befriended musicians made this possible. Although the songs were written and
recorded over quite some years, you can't hear that in any way.
Immediately with the
first song the immense tight drums of Douwe strikes me. Next are the vocals of
Jitse Schregardus that protrude, the man has a very aggressive singing style and
he sounds a bit like a mix of Henri Sattler and Jeff Walker. The songs are very
riff oriented and the music can best be compared with what the band Carcass did
and does. The technical riffs and the musical texture of the songs make me think
a lot of the 'Heartwork' era and if you like the new Carcass album, you like
this one also. Is this Enraged album just a good copy of Carcass, or is
it more. Well, the band has a lot in common with them, but I would not say that
they are a one on one copy, they are more melodic, but that this band is the main influence... yes!
The production took place in the Split Second Sound studio and was mixed
and mastered by Jochem Jacobs (Textures), he gave the album a very modern and
tight sound.
Besides the rather
dry, but very fast and tight drums of Douwe Talma, the other instruments are
filled in by rather known and skilled musicians as well. The guitars by Jens van
der Valk (Autumn, ex-God Dethroned) and on bass guitar Tjaard Walstra (Leaper's
Path, Act of Pain). Douwe also asked some known (foreign) metal musicians for
some guest parts. You can hear guitarsoli of Jos Hendriks (Disintegrate) on "Confabulated
to Defile", Andy la Rocque on "Confusion", James Murphy
on "Dictated by Misanthropy pt. II", Christofer Malmström
on "Below the Surface" and acoustic guitars on "Respice Finem" by Pieter
Oevering (Polter).
If
you are into rather technical grinding death metal and bands like Carcass, God
Dethroned and Death sound like music to your ears, don't hesitate to check this
out.
