The Final Chapter

After the brilliance of Abducted, Hypocrisy followed up with an album of power, aggression, destruction... hell, this band has been on the warpath since day one.

"Inseminated Adoption" kicks off the album with an extraterrestrial groove before picking up the intensity, thrashing you across the galaxy, and dropping you face-first into an alien moshpit during the song's crushing middle section. That's the kind of riff that possesses otherwise ordinary individuals to abandon the illusion of restraint and to smash their heads against the nearest wall because nothing else can release them from the sheer might of this thing that I and you reading this know as heavy fucking metal. One of the band's finest moments for sure. "A Coming Race" follows and slows things down with some beautiful guitar melodies that resonate with such bizarre passion as to create an almost spiritual experience. The sorrow and yearning expressed in the lyrics are voiced with haunting conviction and remain with you long after this CD stops spinning. "Adjusting the Sun" is another thrasher that features creative riffs, precise drumming, and is simply great to hear time and again. Maybe it can be attributed to Peter Tagtren's obsession with Kiss, but the guy knows how to write some catchy songs, yet without sacrificing the heaviness and brutality inherent to Hypocrisy. Also, his clean vocals in "The Final Chapter" and "Inquire Within" sound akin to a dark gothic warping of Pink Floyd's psychedelic soundscapes. This is the kind of twisted vision that this band execute so well.

The lyrics expound upon the alien concept that is Hypocrisy's trademark. The story on this album seems to come from the point of view of an individual who is experiencing flashbacks from having been abducted by alien creatures. Each song seems to wear away at the character's sanity until the final track where he hints at suicide in order to escape the trauma of his memories. Even "Evil Invaders," originally by Razor, takes on a new meaning when held in the frame of The Final Chapter's concept.

The production on The Final Chapter isn't as crisp as on later albums, but every instrument can be heard well. In terms of performance, Hypocrisy are even tighter than they had been up to this point; proof of their evolution and of how well Peter Tagtren, Mikael Hedlund, and Lars Szoke meld as a musical unit. Each of their CDs is a different entity and always offers surprises to keep the listener from becoming bored.

The Final Chapter is a great album with a variety of textures and tempos where Hypocrisy once again refined and progressed their sound to create another special release. If this had truly been their final chapter, then they would have left in triumph with nothing to regret. Thankfully, there were more albums to come.