Invisius

The Spawn Of Condemnation

Written by: BL on 22/03/2010 22:12:29

Back from my regular day job of saving the planet by studying a Computer Science degree, I finally sat down with Invisius's new record "The Spawn Of Condemnation". It's certainly a meaty record and packs that real punch you get sonically with a lot of European records that seems just a little harder than most stuff you get from across the Atlantic. As for the music, it was pretty easy for me to settle into anyway, a good strong dose of melodic death metal peppered with thrash with the smallest hints of metalcore that aren't strong enough to leave any big stains.

Everything about this record is big and aggressive in nature. The production has a real meaty flavour, the drums are pounding and visceral ("As I Watched You Fall" has a blistering finish). The guitars are sharp and sound like buzz saws on the low end while the guitar solos are bright and scorching in contrast. The bass guitar rumbles underneath it all like earthquake and it doesn't end there - the guitar riffing is big and brash which complements the competently gnarly vocal work from lead vocalist Jakob. Clean vocals are handled well mostly if not a bit plain and are sparsely drizzled throughout to a moderate effect. It all comes together well on tracks like "What Quits It All" which showcases everything the band has to offer including a catchy end. There's even a couple of cases of keyboard samples popping up to add a bit of ambience and extra melody.

However sounding big and aggressive is all well and good, but is there enough variety in the song structures and the guitar work? It really becomes a mixed bag at this point. Technical ability aside, since every member of the band sound more than competent, I do feel that some of the parts in some songs (especially how the first riffs start) do end up sounding a little rehashed - and not just from themselves. Not to say I did not enjoy the instrumentation however, there are some really ballsy riffs and a few catchy guitar licks along the way. The acoustic intro to the slower but sledgehammer like "Their Tensions Of Fear" felt like a welcome breather before heading back into the trenches to continue through the hail of machinegun fire though. Reading the provided booklet does shed some light on my impression since it reads that at least musically, only one member of the band wrote everything. Take that however you will, but it really takes genious song writing craft to not sound too one dimensional when it's one person calling the shots.

This means my final judgement is that for an album that packs plenty of punches, it certainly doesn't aim all high enough to deliver any real knockout blows it seems. Even with just ten songs, it felt slightly arduous to move past the forty or so minutes worth of the entire album. My picked out tracks serve well on their own but at the end of the day repetition does creep in with all the similar sounding guitar work, as decent enough it is. The few moments the keyboards came in did shine quite nicely, wish there were more of those. Also I think in the future Invisius need to really be a bit more daring with their instrumentation at the least to really start to elevate themselves from mediocrity.

6

Download: As I Watched You Fall, Edge Of Hostility, What Quits It All
For the fans of: Blinded Colony, older Fear My Thoughts, Kill The Romance, Lamb Of God
Listen: Myspace

Release date 01.03.2010
Mighty Music



Provided by Target ApS

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