After reading a comment pertaining to my last review (thank you Posh) it prompted me to re-read my previous submissions. It was at this point I realised I was the kind of reviewer that fucked me off - you know, the ones that seem to take no pleasure in anything. I took a step back and decided not to review any more and not to be
that reviewer. Unfortunately, and I can only put it down to the hallucinations that come with complete lack of sleep, it apparently slipped my mind to inform anyone in the AltNation hierarchy of my momentous decision and shortly after a package of CDs arrived at my door.
Then I had an epiphany! What if, in some sort of cosmic balance see-saw, the AltNation ethereal heard my tortured reviewer cry and, in a fit of pity, sent me a tome of awesomeness for me to dip my pen into? I grabbed the first CD to hand,
Into Abaddon by
Saviours, and sat back waiting for the positive vibes to flow.
I was reading the first line of the promo blurb as the first notes of
Raging Embers filled my room and I knew this wasn't going to go well. I have instant issue with anyone who sees fit to type "Behold
In Abaddon...." with no trace of irony. Behold? What? Am I in a magician's chamber? No? This tiny piece of wankery instantly fucked me off. Whilst I am aware the band didn't write this blurb about themselves they are now tarred with the "what a wanker" brush in my head. The rest of the blurb is littered with references to 'black metal' and 'crust bands' (I had to look it up - "
Crust punk is a style of hardcore punk. It is an extremely underground form of music and is one of punk's least recognizable forms" - thank you Wikipedia). Black metal I did not get from this album. Nor did I hear even a strain of any sort of punk.
Jakobinarina* are far more punk than this band and they were billed as 'poppy'.
Any way ... yes,
Saviours. The sound is a bit
Motorhead circa Ace of Spades before Lemmy created his unique Marlboro-and-jack-abuse voice. Sure there are loud guitars and eye-watering drums. Sure there's a laddie giving it the scream vocal as best as he can. Sure they mention touring with
Mastadon and how that affected their work ethic. I'm just not feeling it. The blurb states "
Into Abaddon was written in a stressful period of chaos within the ranks of the band..." and that certainly comes through in the sound. The problem being I hear the chaos but I don't hear any of the tightness or togetherness that makes a chaos sound work for a band. It feels a little like each member of the band is beating the shit outta their own personal demons via their instruments but with no regard for what anyone else is going through. The result is ultimately a bit jarring and unfortunately a bit samey. I hate that word but I've yet to find a phrase that conveys that feeling of musical deja vu quite as accurately.
I don't really know what else to say about this particular offering. It's a competent album by a fairly run-of -the-mill metal band. If you like bands such as
Mastadon,
InFlames and
Lamb Of God, this album might just work for you. If you don't then I'd relegate it to the never-to-be-bothered-with pile.
Into Abaddon is out now on Kemado Records.
www.myspace.com/saviours666 *
www.killforsaviours.com *666? what is this - early 90's Norway?
