Intellectual Pursuit

This is a solid album with no weak tracks. Personally, I think it sounds more like thrash than heavy metal, but since the page was added by one of the band's members, I won't question it. (Itunes calls it Alternative, that's definitely wrong.) When I was in India a month ago, I really wanted to check this band out, since they're from the city I was in, but I didn't get the chance.

It's a pity not many people know about this band. They are incredibly talented, and I believe we'll hear of them more in the future. They seem to have a special talent for writing awesome riffs. Their songs are also nice and varied; they mix in the machine-gun riffs and some quieter, slower sections quite nicely.

As I mentioned, the 10 songs are all very good. The album begins with a short instrumental and then jumps into "Race to Oblivion," which is a great opener with an awesome solo. You can tell the Maiden influence right away with the gallop in the intro. Tracks 4-6 - "Futile," "Intellectual Pursuit," and "Perspective Intolerance" - are my favorite songs of the album. "Betrayed" is, in my opinion, the weakest song on the album, but it's still definitely in the "good" category. There's a couple more songs and then the instrumental "Catharsis," which has a nice, slow bass intro and then turns into quite a heavy tune. A great closer.

Their singer definitely sings in an American thrash kind of way - it isn't screamed or shrieked, but he's not exactly singing cleanly either (think early Hetfield). Their drummer and bassist were both very good as well.

But what really amazed me were the guitars. The riffs are all good. But the solos - some sound extremely tough while some are simpler, but they all sound fantastic. They sound complex - whoever wrote them definitely knew what they were doing.

The only complaint I have to make about this album is that the riffs sound similar. Yes, they're all very good, and there are lots of them, but they sound similar after a while.

The bottom line is that you should definitely give this young band a listen. Listen to the stuff they have on their MySpace (unfortuneately, nothing on YouTube), and if you like it, buy the album. This album was released in 2004 - I hope they make another one sometime soon. I've heard this several times, and I'm still not tired of it.