Starless

A few days ago I was revisiting this record just for the sake of giving it a few spins before putting it back in the shelf for another year. This time around I enjoyed the record a bit more than I did back in 2016 and I kept asking myself, why was this record not memorable at all when it was released? The short answer to it is the name Tribulation. Why did Ketzer moved from a basic black/thrash powerhouse to a band that can be classified as uninspired and maybe even a clone of another band that went the same path but in a more sophisticated and natural way.

When Metal Blade records revealed the signing of Ketzer to their ranks I felt it was a weird move from the band and label, as the visions were completely different, but as soon as the cover of the album was published and the first preview of “Starless” was posted online my doubts were cleared.

The reviews for “Starless” were very rough, people was shocked to hear Ketzer going the post-rock & post-punk path mixed with metal, while others praised the bravery to take a 180 degree turn into another direction risking everything the band built under their cult of underground followers.

So why so many negative feedbacks surrounding “Starless”? I will try to tell you why (in my own perspective). The album is not bad, but it is far from a good record. The passion is not there, no intricate playing, no challenging riffs, the powerful lyrics are no longer there and what’s maybe worst is that the album is very predictable. Ketzer went the safe way and created an album that will definitely remind you of In Solitude and Tribulation latest opus, Beastmilk, Grave Pleasures and Death Wolf. Songs have a solid base but they lack the impact and catchy, memorable sections the band had in their previous records. Lyrics are very silly (some of them even sound like they could be written by U2, see Count to Ten), and the vocals are just plain and simple, but something that kicks back the record a lot is also the production.

Based on the snippets and videos uploaded by the band and label, this time around the band recorded and mastered the album in a different studio with a new producer that is more related to rock, soul and hip-hop artists than metal. The volumes in the album sound a bit off place at time, like the drums and bass are leading the whole show, while the guitars and vocals are just adding a few ingredients to make it diverse and not the other way around.

I hope Ketzer and Metal Blade realize how big of a failure was to try to surf a wave that already passed, and most of the bands that added the post-metal tag to their name did it in a interesting way, not trying too hard to copy other artists or impress the fans with a completely different sound that they weren’t even comfortable with or didn’t know how to replicate it, which is what I think happened to Ketzer.