Transgression
Calvin Records/Liquid 8
On Fear Factory's latest CD Transgression the band rages on with their traditional death meets industrial-metal style that has made them an underground metal sensation. The opening track "540,000 Fahrenheit" as well as "Empty Vision" shows the band's obvious Voi Vod influence bringing us back to the Demanufacture era, long before the band wondered off in Digimortal land. Other songs such as the title track and the closing track, "Moment Of Impact," are your typical Sepultura-sounding death-metal we've all heard many, many times before. But on tracks like the Depeche Mode-ish "Supernova" and the dark, tranquil orchestrated ballad "Echo Of My Scream," the band shows hints of Pink Floyd and Black Sabbath's "Planet Caravan" which validates the band's songwriting diversity. This song could surely break into modern-rock radio just as Godsmack did with their tranquil ballads "Voodoo" and "Serenity." The band even do a fairly strong version of U2's "I Will Follow," obviously hoping to cross-over to modern-rock/mainstream radio as their previous cover of Gary Numan's "Cars" did for them a few years back. New bassist Byron Stroud does a great job locking into the pulverizing jack-hammer percussive beats performed by Raymond Herrera. Former bassist Christian Olde Wolbers is now handling the guitar duties (replacing founding guitar-master Dino Cazares) and lays down some brutal pile-driving riffs throughout Transgression. With new label Calvin/Liquid 8 behind the band, they certainly have a good shot at re-achieving the success in America they once had.
CANDLEMASS
Candlemass
Nuclear Blast
Sweden's leaders of Sabbath-inspired metal Candlemass are back with yet another dark-metal classic. This self-entitled disc is actually the eleventh release for Candlemass. And much like their US predecessors Trouble, Pentagram, and St. Vitus, Candlemass persist with their traditional style of classic doom-laden metal, and they do one helluva job! I've always been a huge fan of Swedish metal, from the early neo-classical/metallic sounds of Silver Mountain in the early '80s on through many of today's thrash/extreme metal bands. There's been no question in my eyes that most Swedish musicians are far superior to their American counterparts. And Candlemass is no exception. When it comes to doom-metal Candlemass are at the top of the heap, paving the way for newer Swedish bands like Opeth and Witchery. Rather than blatantly plagiarizing classic Sabbath riffs, as so many modern-day stoner rock bands do, Candlemass pay homage to the metal godfathers, and their influence certainly shows, but their overall demonic sound has an identity all its own. One enormous asset to Candlemass's dark mystic is vocalist Messiah Marcolin who offers a haunting post-Gregorian like howl with a strong sense of melody. Bass-master Leif Edling, drummer Jan Lindh and guitarists Mats Bjorkman and Lars Johansson also deserve praise as they perform brilliantly throughout this disc. Don't settle for the new wave of trendy over-hyped stoner rock, do yourself a favor and pick up this self-titled CD from Candlemass. This is the real-deal.
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