One Man Army And The Undead Quartet - Error In Evolution |
Published March 01 2007
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Mine For The Taking* |
| Genre | Thrash/Death Metal |
Johan Lindstrand
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Vocals
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| Tracks | 10 |
Pekka Kiviaho
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Guitar
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| Runningtime | 40 Min. |
Mikael Lagerblad
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Guitar
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| Label | Nuclear Blast |
Robert Axelsson
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Bass
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| Release | 09 March 2007 |
Marek Dobrowolski
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Drums
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| Country | Sweden |
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Keyboard
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| Similar artists | Nightrage, Arch Enemy, The Haunted | ||
One year has passed, and a successful one as well for One Man Army And The Undead Quartet. With more than eighty live-shows done since the release of their debut album 21st Century Killing Machine, the band is working their way up the metal ladder. With touring supporting Children Of Bodom as well as their own headlining gigs, the band formed around former The Crown vocalist Johan Lindstrand has starting to build up a reputation. With once again a splendid mix of thrash and death metal, One Man Army return with their second album, Error In Evolution, and if the first one nailed you to the floor, you ain't comin' up as long as this one keeps pumpin'.
Mine For The Taking is the first song out and it starts as aggressively as expected and is pretty straightforward in its approach. In the recent interview (se link below) for Metal Covenant, Johan said this about the songs on the new album:"- they are a step in the right direction on what the future sound of The Army will be". And when you come to the refrain of the first song, you get a glimpse of that, as it is quite melodic and he is lighter on the growls in the refrain. Even if there are some new approaches by the band, it is not as much to throw you off the chair. With their sound intact, they keep the songs shorter and Johan varies his growl besides the head-on grunts as on the debut. The track Heaven Knows No Pain is a good example of a song that differs a little and is perhaps a taster of the future sound from One Man Army. A more varied song with a supporting keyboard and with a clean vocal-line in the chorus, although it is still being within the margins of One Man Army And The Undead Quartet.
Knights In Satan's Service is a song worth pointing out,
not least for the name that title-wise is kind of a tribute to KISS,
but mostly for being a speedy killer track fuelled on aggression with
a powerful chorus. In similarity with the ending track Hail The King
since both are fine examples of One Man Army in their finest moments.
At one point while listening at Error In Evolution it strikes me that
One Man Army has a sound that is at times similar with In Flames during
the Whoracle/Clayman era. When I reach the track The Sun Never Shines
the tempo shift from mid-tempo to onward pounding and the great guitar-lines
they lay out make me think about In Flames, and then I realise that
there are more similarities on the album. Christian Älvestam from
Scar Symmetry puts a vocal touch to one of the songs, namely the Alice
Cooper cover, He's Back (The Man Behind The Mask). The song from the
movie Friday The Thirteenth Part VI that has somewhat of a cult status
in Sweden. At the same time that they have made the song sound as a
One Man Army song, they have respectfully kept the essence of the original
version, but personally I think they could have done it even more aggressive.
When I now have listened quit a bit to Error In Evolution I do not feel
as overwhelmed as I did a year ago when 21st Century Killing Machine
was released, and I realise that my high expectations were perhaps set
a bit too high. Nevertheless, this is a kick ass album and they once
again prove their high level of musicianship, and if they sounded to
be a tight outfit on their debut, they sound even better now. If you
liked their debut, I consider Error In Evolution to be a safe buy.
See
also review of: 21st
Century Killing Machine
See also: interview
with John Lindstrand
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Performance
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Originality
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Production
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Vocals
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Songwriting
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8 |
6 |
8 |
8 |
7 |
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Summary
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8 chalices of 10 - Thomas |
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Related links: www.onemanarmy.tv |
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