Tragic Intense

And even if he wasn’t, he would have gladly given up his citizenship for a Dutch one; I’m sure this procedure was a mere formality back in those medieval times, with not much annoying bureaucracy surrounding it. He would have become the definitive Flying Dutchman if he had come across this intense tragedy here (where the hell is this time machine when you most need it?!) which befell the camp of one of Holland’s finest. With the release of the band’s new opus “Necropolis” at the end of this month, it only made sense for one to look inside their camp, and see what else he/she could add (reviews, stuff…) apart from what has already been added.

It’s only the band founder Randy Meinhard who has remained from all the previous line-up configurations for this new at the time venture, and based on the album reviewed here the fans may be a bit apprehensive about the outcome; well, largely those who weren’t left fascinated by it as the change of direction was simply too drastic for the audience to remain unperturbed. The dazzling technical/progressive thrashisms from the first two instalments were replaced by an officiant blend of power, progressive and doom which strangely reminded of what the guys’ colleagues from Sweden (Memento Mori, Candlemass, Abstrakt Algebra, etc.) started stirring around the same time as a counter-reaction to the flooding groovy/alternative/industrial vogues.

The thing is that Meinhard’s penchant for atmosphere and brooding progressions, already nicely covered on the preceding effort, is bigger than the one of his Swedish counterparts which makes lyrical quasi-doomsters like “At Least Pain Lasts” too ponderous to sit through, the brief more dramatic proto-thrashy implements more of rude awakenings than relevant boosters. The new vocalist, though, suits the seriously anti-climactic delivery with his levelled, mid-ranged clean baritone, sounding a bit indifferent at times. Not that he needs to inseparably attach himself to the music which livens up on the nervy Confessor-esque shredder “Godforsaken”, but the timid balladic idyll “Fainted”, and especially the semi-acoustic piece of soothing lyricisms “The Gathering of the Tribes” stifle any such more boisterous moments. The listener will hope to come across vestiges of actual dynamic thrashing, but the more energetic riffage on “From Deep Below” is more within the power/speed metal confines. His/her patience will get awarded eventually on the more engaging progressive saga “Cyberspace” where a few passages will recall the seeping suspense from the preceding marvel, the guys pulling themselves together towards the end for a more thrilling ride with a fair number of twists and turns.

Intensity is by no means the order of the day here; a tragedy of Shakespeare-esque proportions is not at play either. This is an introspective recording, intentionally devoid of tension and verve, with Meinhard having a different agenda this time. The problem is that without the aggressive thrashy support from the earlier efforts his atmospheric predilections don’t seem to hold water for too long as there’s not enough drama provided to oppose to those dark, even gothic-flavoured if you like, undercurrents. It’s respectable that the man managed to keep away for the large part from the detrimental groovy/industrial vogues, but at the same time it’s hard to place this album in the strictly classic camp; there’s this noisier, more abrasive edge to the guitars which timidly tries to side with the trendier at the time ways of execution. Besides, there was no need in acting as the most obstinate “sheep of the Dutch family” having in mind that nearly every other (thrash/death) practitioner (Pestilence, Donor, Genetic Wisdom, Paralysis, etc.) from the guys’ homeland took the road towards more or less compromising metamorphoses in the mid-90’s.

Regardless of this still excusable momentary (hopefully) slip, I still view Meinhard as one of the ultimate retro thrash axemen; the guy has long since won my admiration, and I see no any impediments whatsoever that could stop him from unleashing another exuberant technical/progressive, also deeply atmospheric, retro thrash behemoth… I have the feeling that this new effort will be his actual baptism in both unparalleled intensities and unheard-of tragedies.