 |
|
October 8, 2008 |
 |
|
 |
 |
|
MAZE OF TORMENT - Hammers Of Mayhem
Black Lodge (2005) |
6.5/10 |
|
|
|
|
|
01. Beyond The Infernal Gates
02. F.O.E. (Force Of Evil)
03. Hammers Of Mayhem
04. Dead Cold Blood
05. Servants Of Menace
06. Into The Bloodswarm
07. Tyrannizer
08. The Dead Temple Prayer
09. Dead Soul
10. Catharsis
11. In League With Satan
|
|
Do we really need yet another cover of 'In League With Satan'!?! That was my first thought while perusing the song titles on this before I even threw it on for the first time. Hell, by now I'm sure even VENOM are starting to wonder how many more times this admittedly cool track needs to be pulled down from the shelf, dusted off, and given the ol' tribute treatment! In this instance the culprits in question are Sweden's MAZE OF TORMENT (Erik Sahlström/vox, Cloffe Caspersson/bass, Kjell Enblom/drums, Rickard Dahlin/guitar, and Viktor Hemgren/guitar), a very competent yet very typical Thrash/Death/Black act playing very expected, very paint-by-numbers Thrash/Death/Black Metal the likes of which was once original and meaningful when wielded by the spiked-gauntleted fists of say, the aforementioned VENOM, SLAYER, POSSESSED, and even BATHORY or CELTIC FROST by example. Nowadays, however, I'm afraid the formula is just old-hat, trite, and less than inspiring to say the least.
In the best case scenario - when done right - it's a combination that can blow your frikkin' head off (see TESTAMENT's classic 'Demonic')! In this case, however, it results in the sort of fare that, at best you might want to throw on at a party when you're about halfway through the keg and you can't be bothered to search through the piles of discs scattered around the coffee table amidst the ashtrays and empty's for something more involved and meaningful to kill the next hour. Don't get me wrong. It's not the genre/subgenre I have a problem with. It's just that this is not one of the stronger interpretations thereof.
To be fair I probably shouldn't be too disparaging of MAZE OF TORMENT as these guys do have some formidable chops at their disposal as well as an arsenal of weighty, if all-too-familiar riffs firing left right and center. I mean...you can bang your head to this with a certain abandon...I guess. And well you should be able to. MAZE OF TORMENT have been around since the early 90's after all (once under the moniker of HARMONY of all things) bashing it out in booze-soaked fury and fighting the good fight for all things black leathered, spiked, Satanic, and unwaveringly old-skool. You all know what I mean. It's not like every country in Metaldom doesn't have a band like these guys. In the States it's USURPER, OVERKILL, and to a degree, SLAYER. In Canada it's INFERNAL MAJESTY and ANNIHILATOR. In Germany, DESTRUCTION and SODOM. In England...well...VENOM. These are the bands who just won't deviate from the path of all that is 'True'. They never really change or evolve, or alter their reason to be.
Like musical coelacanths, they are big primeval fish out of time, navigating the unfamiliar waters of a wider, deeper and more technically diverse Metal ocean. Proud anachronisms who refuse to bow before the winds of change! And hey...honestly, that's all good in my book. Whatever gets you through the day. Metal overall is certainly a genre wherein remaining steadfast to the form's traditions is the key to holding longtime fans' interest after all. I just reserve the right as an educated observer to be less than supremely enthralled by it in this particular case. It's a pity MAZE OF TORMENT don't see fit to take their considerable base collective of talent and push it to the next level. They seem content to just stay where they are. Oh well.
I dig good Thrash. I dig good Death and Black Metal too. Combine all three as 'Hammers Of Mayhem' attempts to do and yeah...generally I can get down with that too. I guess I just prefer it when the acts delivering these particular goods do so with that added, intangible...'flair' of extra fire and originality that makes the look-in worth the effort. Sorry to sound jaded and hard to please, but the fact of the matter is that there's about a gazillion acts out there right now currently competing for our collective wallets. If I'm being picky it's because I damn well have to be unless I want to be the guy living in the cardboard box who has a really cool CD collection! And it's not like I’m asking for the Sun and the Moon here either. Just a little something...'more'. It doesn't have to be some sort of bizarre, dramatic change ala 'Load' or some other such abomination. Not at all.
It is possible to 'stay the course' whilst simultaneously injecting a sense of vitality and raw, cerebral energy to the proceedings, which IMO is somewhat lacking in MAZE OF TORMENT's formula. Good examples of bands who DO manage to achieve what I'm talking about would be best illustrated via recent output from the likes of KREATOR, TESTAMENT, THE HAUNTED, DEATH ANGEL, MEGADETH, MASTODON, and LAMB OF GOD. Those are acts who have - again - 'stayed the proverbial course' of the old-skool Thrashin' path, yet likewise seen the value of pumping in 100 CC's or so of modern, high-octane, fuel-injected POWER, ENERGY, HUNGER, and DRIVE!!! It makes all the difference between an album that comes across as a worn, dull steak-knife, and one that cuts like a frikkin' straight-razor! 'Hammers Of Mayhem' is no straight-razor.
In conclusion, like I said, this is one to file under 'okay' and 'not too bad'...but nothing more (and again, to be fair nothing less either) than that. Only true purists and gotta-have-everything-no-matter-how-obscure, collector types will care about this album. Everyone else is unlikely to feel the need to shell out the $$$ for it. If MAZE OF TORMENT want to be seen as a creature of greater force and import than is displayed in this review then I fear they will have to work a little harder than is presently the case. While certainly adequately boozed, bar-brawled, 'n bashin', 'Hammers Of Mayhem' just isn't memorable or exciting enough to warrant more than an average grade from me. I can get an album like this from about a dozen similiar bands. Like I said before: give me something...'more'. Either that or build a time-machine and go back to 1986 when this sort of thing would have been more unique and hard-hitting than it is in today's more aggressively competitive Metal market.
|
|
|
|
