Artist: Impaled Nazarene
Label: Osmose USA
Release Date: 1/27/04
|
|
Title: All That You Fear Artist: Impaled Nazarene Label: Osmose USA Release Date: 1/27/04 |
Judgment Committee Reviews | Rating |
|
2 | ||
|
3 | ||
|
4 | ||
|
| |||
Abyss's Review:
While it would be misleading to call this album an out and out return to their roots, there is no doubt that Impaled Nazarene's newest album revisits the punkier aspects that have been lacking on their recent works. They have, however, retained a bit of the melodic approach found in their last few albums, resulting in an interesting, but not necessarily pleasant, sound.In all fairness, it is largely due to the fact that I don't really like the choppy, staccato, bouncing powerchord delivery that defines this sound. That, however, doesn't mean there isn't something interesting going on here. Impaled Nazarene have taken an interesting approach with this record, fusing some of the elements of the recent wave of Eastern European black metal, speeding them up, infusing a bit of melody, and delivering it all with a Manowar-like bravado (evident in the lyrics), that makes it hard to take completely seriously.
"One word review: Unsatisfying." And while, on paper, what they are trying to do is pretty novel, I just don't think it works well. I've always thought the black metal acts with a punk base generally robbed the genre of one of its most important aspects, namely its mood. Impaled Nazarene are guilty of that as well, at least to a point, but where this album really comes up short is it seems to hesitate and compromise with regard to its identity. The lyrics try to be verbose and epic, but come up a bit short. The band appears to want to capture some of their past intensity, but holds back. Its not that this album doesn't have an identity, it definitely does, but it doesn't seem that confident in it.
While I do respect a great deal of what the band has done here, I don't really like the record. I will be interested to see where they go from here, however. I am impressed that they seem to be trying to dabble in new territory. One word review: Unsatisfying.
Death's Review:
"All That You Fear is a decent record." I read the recent Metal Maniacs feature on this band with fascination, as it discussed the circumstances of last year's death of guitarist Teemu "Somnium" Raimoranta. No, I wasn't so much intrigued by any sort of salacious details of the incident itself, but the rather the brutal honesty with which the interview dealt with the subject. I guess if you are a band like Impaled Nazarene, brutal honesty is the only way. Their new album, All That You Fear is brutally honest in every way, from the "true metal" stylings to the uncompromising assault to the venomus lyrical attack. Fourteen years after their formation, Impaled Nazarene still burn with a the fire of early eighties punk/thrash while incorporating traditional heavy metal elements into their blackened and blasphemous assault. In the end, All That You Fear is a decent record. Nothing too special, as the whole "blackened death-thrash" (or "thrashy blackened death") thing is starting to wear a bit thin for me, but it is definitely cool if you are into this sort of thing. Sure, the image is a bit over-the-top, but the album cover is pretty cool and for the most part the music inside backs it up. Still, to be honest, the Metal Maniacs interview left a more lasting impression than the album did.
Hel's Review:
Impaled Nazarene is one of those bands that I’ve always thought I’d like to spend some time with, but never really did. So here I am, their newest album in hand. All that You Fear is predominately an amalgam of black, death, and thrash, with the emphasis quite firmly on black, and touches of melody scattered throughout.
"In sum, all of the elements are in place for this to be a great album." First and foremost, the musicianship displayed on this disc is top tier. The song structures are very good, and there is a nice variation in the combination of elements used in each song, which keeps things interesting. In sum, all of the elements are in place for this to be a great album.
A black metal-style high pitched shriek is the favored vocal style, and this is one of the key characteristics that cause my interest to wane. You see, black metal is not really my thing, and one of the reasons is that I find the favored pitch becomes very monotonous to listen to. I just get sick of it if it doesn’t switch up enough, and that is certainly the case here.
This is obviously a quality release, but does not quite do the trick for me. Here is another instance where a half skull would come in handy, as this is most definitely not a 3 skull album, yet because of my personal tastes, I don’t really feel 4 is the most appropriate rating. Yet it is more of a 4 than a 3, so that’s what we’ll go with. I do recommend checking this out, as it is a very good record and I know others will find it more to their taste than I.
[- Metal Judgment Home -] [- Email Metal Judgment -]
©1999 Metal Judgment. All rights reserved.