Review Summary: Threat Signal tries to create a great Metal album mixing the sounds of Industrial Metal and Melodic Death Metal. While the band does not succeed in making a fantastic and unique album, they still manage to create a decent and very catchy Metal album.
When I first heard of Threat Signal, I never really gave the band a fair chance. After hearing one or two songs off of their debut album "Under Reprisal", I wasn't really impressed with them at all. As far as I was concerned, they sounded like a generic Melodic Death Metal band with tons of Metalcore influences and a hint of Industrial Metal. While it seems like a pretty unique blend of genre's, Threat Signal's sound is certainly nowhere close to being unique.
With "Under Reprisal", you can tell that Threat Signal is trying to impress in every way possible. In fact, on many occasions, they do. Still, there is really nothing about the album that really sets it apart or makes it drastically unique. Still, why do I actually like the album? Well, this album shows that a band doesn't have to be unique just to turn out a decent and somewhat enjoyable album. If there is one thing Threat Signal do right with "Under Reprisal", it's their ability to write extremely heavy songs that all come out pretty decent and don't overstay their welcome. The band writes with a very casual sense of melody but still manages to mix in heaviness without making everything sound completely cliched and recycled.
As far as songwriting goes, Threat Signal gets the job done pretty well. There are really no songs on this album that can be considered absolutely terrible. IF I had to describe how I view most of the songs on this album, I'd have to say that most all of them are pretty decent tunes. Still, there are certain songs that really stand out and manage to make the album much more interesting. Songs such as "One Last Breath" and "Inane" really give this album legs and make it quite a bit more interesting. These songs show that Threat Signal actually has quite a talented base for a band and they could really be something great if they allowed their sound to evolve more.
The biggest draw to this album and band, in general, are its extremely talented guitarists. These guys are most definitely the highlight of this album. The guitarists manage to mix melody with extremely heavy riffs that sometimes come off as if someone took some of Meshuggah's most famous riffs and sped them up to hyper speed. There are many extremely catchy riffs on this album. There is somewhat of a Math Metal feel to some of the riffs and the technicality of both guitarists is quite impressive, at times. There are also some pretty impressive solo's on this album. They usually make a pretty good impact because they are not overused and, when they do pop up, they sound extremely tasteful and well placed. While the guitarists are fantastic, the other instrumentalists in the band really don't stick out too much. Most of the time, they just do their job. The bassist usually plays what the guitarists plays and the drummer just bangs out the same generic Metal drums only to really show out once in a while on the album. Still, they don't do a bad job at all.
Honestly, to me, the biggest letdown on this album was the vocals. Lead singer Jon Howard. It's apparent that the guy is trying to be something special in the band; however, I certainly see him as the bands biggest drawback. His vocals are often hit and miss and his range is nothing special at all. He can hit some pretty good high's now and again, but he never really leaves his comfort zone. Usually he stays in a monotone rasp that can be considered almost as a mix between Meshuggah's Jens Kidman and some generic growler from another Melodic Death Metal or Metalcore band. Believe me, his work on this album is nothing special. Still, he's not completely terrible. as a matter of fact, his growling is the best part of his vocals. In my opinion, his singing is his biggest problem. Often he comes off sounding like Linkin Park's lead singer with his half raspy, half clean singing voice. Some times it sounds whiny and just completely uninspired and sad. Still, sometimes he can pull it off quite well ("One Last Breath"), but he never really managed to impress me at all.
While this album has many weak points, it still manages to be quite a good listen. This is honestly very close to a 3.5 for me, but I just don't consider it THAT good yet. I see a lot of potential in these guys, but I don't know if they will ever leave their comfort zone and actually try something different. Right now, their music is catchy and sometimes impressive but I never see these guys actually becoming a very well respected band within the Melodic Death Metal genre unless they become determined to evolve and change their generic sound. Still, Threat Signal's music manages to be enjoyable, and while not unique, it definitely has its moments.
