One Minute Silence

Fragmented Armageddon

Written by: AZ on 28/07/2013 18:57:14

To stand out in the sea of bands is a goal that many of today's metal acts set out to accomplish. You can often hear in interviews how musicians have “some kind of special chemistry” and that they feel they are doing something unique. As we all know the chosen ones that manage to put their stamp onto sound and time are few.

Paving their way with a contradictory vibe, One Minute Silence are a musical experiment that many of you may easily turn away from at first glimpse. The UK-based quartet truly sounds like a mash up of different genres and performers, yet the sense for something honest and deep lingers behind each chord and tone in “Fragmented Armageddon”. Take Skindred's distinctive sound, twist it through the prism of Tool's surreal atmosphere and add a Serj Tankian's unmistakable persona (let's say from his early days in SOAD – think of “Sugar”) and you get my best shot at associating the release at hand to other familiar faces and sounds.

“Fruit From The Lie” is the opener to this effort and my favorite track as well. It carries an oriental feeling that swiftly creeps up on you to the extent where you find yourself swaying to the heavy riffs without a conscious effort. To be honest, all songs on here have a distinctive groove of their own. To achieve that each of the instrumentalists in One Minute Silence showcase their craft and true emotion throughout the release. The thing that I absolutely love about the band, however, is the way vocalist Yap's voice fits in with the music. It is harsh, at times non-melodic – almost like a sacrament. The words being sung or spoken have a dramatic edge added to them which, to me, makes their effect even greater.

As a total mind-blow to what I could expect as a closer to an energetic and freaky record like “Fragmented Armageddon” comes the last track called “Early Morning”. An acoustic glance at Yap's softer side proves that One Minute Silence have their own approach to various audiences. Accompanied first by samples and later on by violins, Yap's voice dims the light and ignites the candles to let nostalgia flow around.

On the downside I would point out the fact that the record has six songs, two out of which are remixes. This could either be viewed as a desperate step to reach a certain amount of songs on the release, or as a bold move to show yet again the band's distinctive nature. Whatever this move I count as bad in my books since two new songs would have shed a bit more light on the direction OMS points the listener towards.

Enjoying the silence is always a nice experience especially if you have to spend some time alone with your thoughts. This One Minute Silence is a creature that brings a new experience – full of energy, honesty and colorful day dreams.

7

Download: Fruit From The Lie, Early Morning
For The Fans Of: Skindred, System Of A Down, Tool
Listen: Facebook

Release Date 17.06.2013
Self-released

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