Review Summary: The Crown can move over this year
The Crown rubbed me the wrong way this year with their disappointing
Doomsday King, a reunion album that came after a six-year hiatus that displayed one of the leading death/trash acts of all time falling on their faces, with a new singer at the helm (again), surprisingly. Like a common critic might say of the thrash genre, death/thrash has a tendency to repeat itself, and while the Swedes were desperately trying to avoid this by making their heaviest album yet - well, uh, let’s just say that they just ended up sounding boring, devoid of life, and, ironically,
repetitive (see review).
So hark all and read, 2010:
the death of death/thrash, at least that was my initial thought after such bands like
Yyrkoon,
Deceased, and
Hypnosia had long-since bit the bullet; now the
Deathrace Kings themselves were eating crap with much of the derivative metal world as a whole. Seems this type of music is dead, if not years earlier, and that was the consensus via me and maybe others, too, as well. But that was until a fairly unknown band arrived out of The Netherlands with the likes of
God Dethroned to revitalize some of the melodic death subgenre, in so doing bringing a hefty, life-saving dose of fresh death/thrash with them: I present to you Victimizer’s sophomore release,
Tales of Loss and New Found Serenity.
Like any death/thrash album worth listening to – oh hey
Crowned In Terror,
As The Weird Travel On,
Extreme Hatred, etc. etc. – Victimizer's
Tales of Loss hits listeners in the face with a jackhammer of fast, hard riffs, with a powerful vocalist, in this case by the name of Niels Feekes with his deep, powerful growl. You won’t find better death/thrash than
Tales of Loss this year in 2010, I believe; in fact, you’re not likely to find any better going back a few years, too. Riffs hit with powerful production values that are hard enough to shake the ice cycles hanging from your gutters, and the melody that Feekes and crew offer is complimentary, never overriding the aggressive nature of the music.
It’s very modern-sounding, so purists may want to pass on
Tales of Loss, sadly – but don’t let your years of metal elitism sway you, though. Feekes has a way of tossing in his deeps growls with the snarls and shrieks of guitarists Andrew van der Schaft and Richard Sastra for an almost blackened-death feel, particularly on the second half of the album. In fact, it bears mentioning that the last four tracks are arguably the strongest, and conversely the longest, with the band using the most of their three vocalists, as well as changing tempos and time signatures of the music fairly often. This gives “Left Unsung” and “Past The Eulogy” the titles of best tracks, in particular, being both varied and catchy, yet brutal and unpredictable as well.
Although, to be fair, though, “Feed The Rats” is not far behind those two either, with the last minute or so of its length being the emotional high-point of the album, Feekes letting loose a blood-curdling roar, while the Sastra and Schaft launch into a powerful guitar solo. Moments like this and the ending finale of the longest track, “Reunited For Eternity”, do much to give
Tales of Loss character and replayability. Yet for all their strengths, the vocalist and axe-men can’t quite mask Victimizer’s one downfall at this point in their career: drummer Romeo Gerrits. Throughout the album, and oddly the most on the first half, Gerrits’ fills are disturbingly minimal when compared to the onslaught of powerful riffs from the guitarists. Not only this, but his drumming style is disappointingly weak and, almost, inexperienced-sounding, too.
Still, Feekes, Sastra, and Schaft are able to carry Victimizer strongly through their sophomore album,
Tales of Loss. The riffs are hard, the solos succulent, and the death/trash is alive and well here, mixed in with a healthy, shameless dose of melodic death metal. This album is not one to miss metalheads, so leave some room on your best-of lists for another addition – yes, for a death/thrash album, unlikely as it may be. Congrats, guys. The Crown can now move over.
