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September 7, 2008 |
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01. The Divine Creation Of Void
02. Personal Hell
03. Windows On The World
04. The Second Plane
05. Instincts
06. Journal Of A Nightmare
07. Water
08. Untrustable Surface
09. The Genetic Failure
10. Freaking Goose
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Sweden's NON-HUMAN LEVEL is the side project of DARKANE's very prolific guitarist, Christopher Malmström, who has been working on the idea since around the time of "Rusted Angel" in 1999. Although the ideas didn't fit in the style of his main band they were well worth keeping aside for a future project. When Malmström finally gathered enough material in order to constitute a first opus, he decided to go ahead and select a group of musicians that included bassist Gustaf Hielm (MESHUGGAH), drummer Ryan Van Poederooyen (DEVIN TOWNSEND BAND, LALU) and fellow DARKANE mate, drummer Peter Wildoer on vocals. Recorded at Not Quite Studios in Helsingborg, Sweden, the first album of NON-HUMAN LEVEL is now available on Listenable Records.
With such a brochette of musicians, everybody is of course entitled to expect the best, and let me tell you that the best is exactly what you're going to get with this disc. With a catchy acoustic intro, opening track "The Divine Creation Of Void" unleashes the fury. What we have here is pure straight-forward Death/Thrash Metal with killer riffs and extremely tight musicianship. This is definitely far from the usual sound of DARKANE. The next song, "Personal Hell", raises the level of aggression in a style similar to GRIMFIST, except for more importance given to the melodies, especially during the Blackmore/Malmsteen-like guitar-solos. "Windows On The World", after a very old-school Thrash guitar-intro, follows up in the same way without any effort whatsoever. Once again, even if you think you've heard it all, you can't help being extremely impressed by the level of virtuosity displayed by each musician. Next, full instrumental "The Second Plane" enhances this impression.
It's quite surprising to have this appearing so early in the track order. Nevertheless, it is so good that it blends in easily with the rest of the album thus far. After this short break, the super fast heavy-as-hell "Instincts", strikes right where it hurts. It's important to mention the appearance of DEMON keyboardist Lale Larson and Christian Schulze at the organ on this one.
In "Journal Of A Nightmare", the intro is somehow very reminiscent of ANTHRAX's classic "Deathrider". Further down the road as the song progresses, it's back to business as usual. The acoustic break offered on the album's second instrumental, "Water", fits in with the rest of the selection despite its fine melodic tranquility. "Untrustable Surface" gets going in a very vintage Thrash vibe in the spirit of Bay area thrashers EXODUS - just a tad more sophisticated. "The Genetic Failure" on the other hand starts off in a straightforward Death Metal spirit before switching into a very jazzy break halfway across the song, concluding towards the end with the old school Thrash idea of the previous track. The album ends with a third instrumental, the acoustic "Freaking Goose".
The production work (fully assumed by Christopher Malmström) on this album is just enormous. So far 2005 has seen Extreme Metal getting more and more complex with acts such as MORS PRINCIPIUM EST, BIOMECHANICAL, GRIMFIST and OLD MAN'S CHILD. Well, NON HUMAN LEVEL will be a new addition to the list. Lets hope this time we won't have to wait another six years before they release their next album.
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