Review Summary: A very heavy campaign from a band that has crafted a rare breed of unrelenting aggression, power, and fury.
Hailing from Norway, this band was formed by the meeting of guitarist Ole Walaunet from Deride, Horgh the former drummer of
Immortaland
Hypocrisy, and vocalist Frediablo (Necrophagia, Gorelord, Hemnur)
Their first album, Ghouls of Grandeur, was a ten track album of nonstop fury, which was an excellent start to this band's musical career. Using elements of Black Metal and Death Metal, they created a sound of sheer heaviness rarely felt in the Metal genre today. On '10 Steps to Hell' they found a new drummer in Christian Svendsen. Songs like 'Breed Apart' and 'Separation of My Soul' have amazing power and aggressiveness that few have acheived since the days of
Pantera. Here is a song by song analysis:
1.Power: Right from the get go, the signature guitar and blasting sound is present. Then it gets into a super heavy blast beat that becomes very familiar while listening to this album. It then slows down a little into a nice little breakdown before continuing the madness. Wierd ending however, it slows down a lot at the middle and just slowly fades out. Despite that, its a great opener(4/5)
2.Separation of My Soul: This is my second favorite song on the album. Begins with a nice riff and builds to an extremely heavy blast beat that will shake your entire body. From here, it moves into a nice verse which showcases the vocal talents of this band. This is one of the must hear songs. The musical element and heaviness of this song is unbeleivable. (5/5)
3.Breed Apart: This song is hands down the best song they have ever written. Starts out with an intricate guitar riff and then the evil vocals begin. It constantly builds until another fantastically heavy blast beat starts. This one will be stuck in your head forever. So damn good it hurts. I think this is one of the heaviest riffs i have ever heard. It then goes into a melodic guitar part and then fades again into chaos.(5/5)
4.Unborn (intro):Nice acoustic riff, builds up for the actual song. Feels out of place.
5.Unborn: Starts off just insane, but leads into a nice heavy riff and along into the verse, and chorus which actually shows some melody to the vocals. This one also highlights the guitar skills a bit more which is nice. Soon gets into a fresh riff reminiscent of the earlier on the album. Gets super heavy again, then closes on a high note.(3.5/5)
6. Ashes of the Gods: Starts out with decent paced, death metal style drumming, and then progesses into a fast guitar and drum beat that changes once more into a hevy chugging riff that is very good. Vocals on this song are also a high point. This song havs many diversities which makes it nice to listen to and even has 2 wicked solos. (4.5/5)
7.Reap the Fire: Starts out very fast and technical in death metal fashion and gets into a nice fast paced riff and chug. Very good double bass clearly heard on this and the fast guitar riff here makes this a very good headbanging song just like tracks 1, 2, 3, 4, and 6. Halfway through this song, their is a quiet interlude with strange sounds such as children laughing and then its just gets extrememly heavy, fast and crazy. This part highlights the drum skills of current full time drummer Christian Svendsen. Very good heavy song off the album.(4/5)
8.Touched by a Shadow of Evil: Entire song is an eerie guitar riff that woud fit into a horror film nicely, but feels somehow out of place on the album just like the Unborn intro.
9.Tools of the Trade: Kicks off with a light guitar riff and gets into an almost rock sounding riff. Vocals begin with a chant of Hey! Hey!...and gets into the faster paced verse which doesn't get moving for a while, and leaves this song quite monotonous. A bit of guitar harmony at the end but it's too late. (2.5/5)
10. Fight or Die: Fast paced guitar riff and drum beats start this one out until the vocals get involved, then it is very death metal oriented. The chorus of 'Fight or Die' is interlaced with a nice guitar riff and overall great sounding instruments. Gets into a deeper chug before tramnsforming into a chaotically orchestrated beat, and ending abruptly. (4/5)
Overall a good album with some rough patchesand a little bit of repetitiveness, but if you want to hear some awesome Norwegian metal, and feel some of the heaviest music in recent years, please pick this one up.
RIP DIME...
