Dimensions

Except for Stryper almost every other single practitioner from the Christian metal movement remained in the background; like God had intentionally voted to keep his soldiers in the trenches and to never shoot them into the spotlight. This is, I guess, the way of the trve warrior, which didn’t make a very big difference, if you think of it, as the genius coming from there was recognized far’n wide, winning the majority from this branch a well-deserved cult status.

Of all the outfits under God’s command Believer are by far the finest and the most gifted one. In fact, now that I’m thinking, there isn’t any other act outside the usual suspects (Metallica, Coroner, Helloween, Candlemass, Helstar, etc.) that have shot such strong first three consecutive instalments on the scene… a feat that alone certifies this team’s golden status. Although their sophomore outing “Sanity Obscure” is widely considered their magnum opus, the album reviewed here exudes greatness in spades and comes quite close to the magnanimity of its predecessor.

By 1993 the metal carnival was already pretty messed up; the groove/industrial/post-thrashy order was well established, quite peacefully at that, as most of the 80’s thrash veterans readily jumped the new wagon trying to capture some of the staggering success of the Black Album. For the majority that remained an unrealized dream, and they had to live with the shame of selling their souls cheaply to the new God of groove. Those who chose not to zig zag among new and old deities by all means won in the long run, Believer included, although the apprehension was probably quite strong in their fans’ camp before this opus’ release having in mind the few experimental deviations heard on “Sanity…”.

And yes, the road to progress and evolution receives another solid building block here, and not because of the much vaunted symphonically-executed Trilogy in the second half (which is actually a quadrilogy if we count the intro). This is a different “animal” altogether as past exploits won’t be repeated like the dry mechanical riffage at the start of “Gone” shows only too well; allusions to the aggro-rhythms of Pantera and the likes are immediately drawn, but this is a Believer recording, after all, and once Bachman’s apocalyptic shouts hit alongside the intricate razor-sharp mid-tempo guitars things nearly get back to normal, this early delivery also recalling another opus released the same year, Sacrifice’s “Apocalypse Inside”. It seems as though the modern tendencies on the field have caught up with the band, but “Future Mind” rather tells a past story by bringing back the technical thrash vigour from earlier affairs with nervy staccato leaps and bounds. Although later the focus is not exactly on fast-paced explosions, the other notable exception being the great amorphous shredder “Singularity”, one should have no problems savouring minimalistic atmospheric creepers like “Dimentia”, or superb miasmic technical steam-rollers like “What Is But Cannot Be” where surreal angular riffage tussles with bouts of linearity, this symbiosis culminating on the outstanding amorphous “No Apology”, a hectic atonal delight that would make anyone from Mekong Delta to Gorguts envious, with overlapping motifs creating a dense hallucinogenic atmosphere, one that entire albums may find hard to achieve, not to mention the first-class lead guitar work timely provided throughout.

Back to the Trilogy, it’s understandable why it has generated so much attention, for better or worse, as it’s a whole 20-min extension of “Dies Irae (Day of Wrath)” from “Sanity Obscure”, not just a momentary slip-up, but occupying a sizeable portion from the album. Symphonic thrash, anyone? Yeah, I know, sounds like a heresy even during these transformational times, but if given time this tractate will reveal itself as a truly captivating listen giving Therion and their clones a ready template to build their careers on, and even the folk metal brotherhood led by Skyclad (just hear the folk motifs on the “The Key” movement) will find something to learn. The interplay between the hard-hitting guitars and the violins and the other orchestral gimmicks has been very well achieved as the latter never stifle the riffs save for the few quiet balladic interludes. It’s debatable how convincing Bachman sounds next to the angelic diva that commands the show, but he doesn’t participate that much to be viewed a nuisance.

And that’s it, an outstanding work of metal that doesn’t suck with all the groove, and industrial, and alternative, and what have you poured into its foundations. Played back-to-back with the previous two efforts it sounds quite different, and yet it impresses almost as much, if not even more, a great example of how a veteran can adjust to the new environment without necessarily succumbing to it. This unique combination didn’t sound like anything else out there at the time as everyone else was busy grooving and aggro-ing, trying to shy away from too much musicality… well, here they were, these true Believers, who blended two different, not really contrasting, approaches into one whole that gave a wider spectre of fans something to ponder over and respectively savour. It kept the thrashers in the vicinity, it surprised and possibly pulled back the more scholastic audience, and it displayed visions and creativity that took the scene some time to get used to.

There was nowhere to go from here as thrash, regardless of the extravagant marriages the poor genre was to experience later with other styles, wasn’t the industry’s dearest, and although the not-yet shaped symphonic metal field could have been a somewhat safe bet, it didn’t seem likely that Bachmann and Co. would choose this path to explore. The Christian thrash metal movement was packing up with the majority (Sacrament, Betrayal, Tourniquet, etc.) taking a prolonged break, not willing to mess it up the way some of their brethren (Deliverance, Living Sacrifice) did by surrendering to the numetal vogues. Believer took the longest break of this lot, but their return hasn’t been the smoothest one so far, with “Gabriel” bringing some of the magic of old amongst the modern gothic, industrial, etc. meanderings, but the latter additives completely took over on “Transhuman” this album sounding like belonging to a different discography.

Yeah, it may be a bit hard to believe that in the midst of the old school resurrection campaign Believer, of all acts, have been trying to diversify the rigid palette in such a way… on the other hand, the guys have always had their eye on the offbeat and the original; let’s just wait and see what other dimensions they’re planning to take us to.