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September 7, 2008 |
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01. Day Zero
02. YDKS
03. Hellhole
04. Thorn
05. Chasm (Remix)
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I'm not gonna beat around the bush here: I am majorly disappointed. I really expected more from Finnish Melodic Death Metal stalwarts NORTHER (Petri Lindroos/vocals & guitar, Kristian Ranta/guitar, Tuomas Planman/keyboards, Jukka Koskinen/bass, and Tony Hallio/drums) than is delivered on the frankly quite lackluster and unimpressive 'Solution 7'. Sure, I know...it's only an EP in this case, but so what!?! It's also NORTHER, and after a groundbreaking release like full-length predecessor 'Death Unlimited' ('04) a certain standard is expected!
I mean, what is an EP anyway if not a stop-gap between albums. A space filler. A sonic hors d'oeuvre to whet one's appetite before the arrival of the main course. In the case of 'Solution 7' I feel as though I've just arrived at what I was told would be a huge outdoor BBQ Party only to be handed a greasy bun containing a cold, boiled, shriveled hotdog and a handful of stale chips with a plastic cup of watery Kool-Aid to wash it all down. The promised abundance of beer, juicy burgers, Bavarian smokies, and corn-on-the-cob are nowhere to be seen. In short...I feel a little cheated to say the very least. Especially since - metaphorically speaking that is - on 'Death Unlimited' (an album I believe I granted a well-deserved '9') NORTHER proved that they can fire up the proverbial grill and get cookin' with the best of 'em!!!
So what gives with 'Solution 7' then??? Well, for starters we've got opener 'Day Zero'. Okay...it's not bad. I'll give you that. Fast and aggressive; decent enough keyboard melody; clean (and IMO somewhat flat!) vocals c/o someone by the name of 'Kride'. A certain...'something' going on with the overall sound of the thing that makes me think that the guys have been kickin' it in a Helsinki apartment with CHILDREN OF BODOM listening to SYL/Devin Townsend or maybe FEAR FACTORY albums in quest of fresh vibes and approaches to songwriting. All that aside though...merely 'good'. Nothing to write home about. Next we've got 'YDKS' (apparently an acronym for 'You Don't Know S***’ as per the choral refrain) which starts out well enough only to get REAL annoying REAL quick due to its overly-repetitive, irritating and juvenile chorus. Pure phoned-in-while-hungover filler. Very disappointing. Again...NORTHER have proven in the past that they have greatness within them!
Why are they playing down their obvious talent and strength on crap tracks like this!?! This is only an iota or two away from something some Nu-Metal band would do! Next up is lone gem-in-the-rough, 'Hellhole' - a fast, aggressive ball o' gleaming riffage chock full of razor-sharp hooks and shimmering leads that will most likely be the lead single and hopefully title-track(???) from the band's next full-length. A great, great NORTHER track and the only example to be found on 'Solution 7' of the band playing to their considerable strengths. A welcome oasis of headbanging fury in a desert of mediocrity. Closing things off are 'Thorn', another filler/throw-away B-Side if ever there was one, and a completely unnecessary and ill-advised remix of the formerly-great 'Chasm' from the fantastic 'Death Unlimited' album.
Why in the hell the band saw fit to re-record this track with Kride's abysmally flat and unemotive 'clean' vox in place of Lindroo's original vocal tracks which dripped wonderfully with aggression and bile...I just do not know. Should have left well enough alone. Travesty! This is just dumb, dumb, dumb.
So there you have it. Sorry NORTHER. Really. I genuinely dislike giving good bands bad reviews, even when they deserve it. I feel like some sort of bizarre 'Heavy Metal Simon Cowell' here, delivering an acerbically biting tongue-lashing to one of the 'Final 5' on 'Metal Idol'. In other words, this is band who as I have already reiterated, have more than enough talent, drive, and creativity in their collective grasp to put out something capable of blowing frikkin' heads off! In this case however, IMO they have dropped the ball in a major way. I really did expect better from NORTHER. Much better. All due respect aside though, if something is mediocre, I'm gonna make the appropriate call regardless of who's responsible, so let the hate-mail fly if you wish! I will sleep soundly regardless.
Consider me cautiously optimistic in regards to the upcoming full-length which will hopefully bury this less-than-worthy interim effort from an act who I hope have merely lapsed into a bout of forgiveable, label-prodded(???) laziness as opposed to a complete abandoning of everything that made them a force to be reckoned with in the first place.
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