Himsa

Summon in Thunder

Written by: AP on 21/12/2007 12:39:02

Some people mistakenly call Himsa\'s music metalcore, and while the band might have explored that path on their previous efforts, \"Summon in Thunder\" lands them in that same undefined limbo as Suicide Silence, The Black Dahlia Murder and Burn in Silence that we know as deathcore. Then again, Himsa primarily owes its stylistic debt to Gothenburg and its aging breed of melodic death metal bands, save for a few down payments to their homeland thrash heritage. The truth is that with \"Summon in Thunder\", Himsa have established themselves as one of the most solid, well-rounded metal outfits today, even if it took the band ten years to accomplish.

Himsa\'s progress is best represented by the album\'s artwork, an impressive mix of old and new with its demonic imagery disguised in a contemporary color scheme. This idea comes to life with the appropriately titled album\'s opening track, \"Reinventing the Noose\", a song of epic proportions that moves from a majestic, yet strangely diabolical introduction to a ferocious embodiment of the band\'s heaviest influences. The song fades into \"Haunter\", which alternates between the coarseness of early melodic death and the density of thrash in a successful juxtaposition of the various career stages of the Björler brothers. Coupled with the cheese of its music video, \"Big Timber\" reinvents the cartoonish world of Megadeth and Iron Maiden remodeling it to conform to Himsa\'s contemporary vibe. \"Big Timber\", coupled with the following \"Given It to the Taking\" showcase Himsa\'s ability to combine the melodic with uncompromising brutality.

And melody comes in abundant helpings. Himsa are known to include a third guitar line in their studio albums, which enables the band to play riffs of absolutely massive caliber; riffs that feature twin harmonies played on top of power chords. This gimmick not only allows for unique melodies, but it also amps up the bass and pushes the boundaries of what is considered heavy and raw. \"Hooks As Hands\" is a good example of this practice. In contrast, tracks like \"Ruin Them\" and \"Unleash Carnage\" are simply rampant with little, if any melody to soothe the wrath of John Pettibone\'s vocals. Speaking of vocals, they hit hard and come across with the same clarity as every instrument on the album.

But that\'s no surprise with the all-star ensemble responsible for the production of \"Summon in Thunder\". With Devin Townsend handling the vocals, Tue Madsen the mixing and mastering and Steve Carter overseeing the production, there\'s little that can go wrong. And little is indeed all that goes wrong with \"Summon in Thunder\". Musicianship, production and artwork are all in place, and in fact the only thing that drags the album down is the relative lack of memorabilia that the listener is able to embrace. \"Summon in Thunder\" is simply heavy as fuck, and perhaps to its own merit it lacks catchiness to an extent where it\'s hard to revisit the songs in one\'s mind. The album works best blasting through a stereo system, when it\'s able to engulf the listener in pandemonium.

8

Download: Reinventing the Noose, Big Timber, Hooks As Hands

For the fans of: Arch Enemy, Burn in Silence, Through the Eyes of the Dead

Listen: Myspace

Buy: iTunes

Release date 17.09.2007

Century Media

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