Ordinance

Internal Monologues

Written by: PP on 08/12/2011 06:38:32

Maryland is one of the few places in the US with a healthy and functioning death metal scene. Or so I am told anyway. Ordinance is the product of that environment, a progressive death metal / technical death metal band featuring Alex Rudinger of Threat Signal fame on the drums, and "Internal Monologues" is their debut full length album.

It doesn't take many listens to the album to recognize a striking similarity to The Faceless and their album "Planetary Duality", although Ordinance's expression is a little less deathcore and a little more "Deliverance"-era Opeth. The sharp listener will also recognize a few vantage points towards Between The Buried And Me, especially during the haunted clean vocals that add an element of calmness to soothe the listener from an otherwise ultra-technical assault.

So as you can see, the influences of Ordinance are certainly in order. The question is, how those references translate into practice. While there are a number of reviewers delivering critical acclaim to Ordinance's direction, hailing "Internal Monologues" as one of the best prog death metal albums in a while, I'm not willing to go quite so far. The good aspects of the album are indeed great: the thick growls are impressive, and the drumming is absolutely phenomenal most of the time. However, the rest of the instrumentation suffers greatly from a mechanical production that leaves the guitars sounding flat and lifeless in many places. The over-compression I've talked about before applies here, and although the clean and heavily produced sound is going to appeal to The Faceless fans, the truth is that the guitars are simply too tightly confined to make an impact. It's a shame, because the title track, "Singular Perspective", and "Repress" are all examples of the great amount of talent that lurks just underneath the surface. In the end, it might just be a preference issue, though, so if you liked The Faceless, do yourself a favor and check this one out, too.

7

Download: Repress, Internal Monologues
For the fans of: The Faceless, Between The Buried And Me, Opeth
Listen: Myspace

Release date 26.07.2011
Audi Aggregate Recordings

Internal Monologues by ordinance

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