Gruesome with “Silent Echoes” is the kind of album that deceives the reviewer as it did to me. All features I heard, and I heard it three times, pointed to one simple direction that is Thrash Metal. All the instrumentals guitar riffs, bass lines and drumming told me I was listening to one more Thrash Metal; only vocals pointed to Death Metal, and, to be frank, slightley because I have heard bands with this kind of vocals recently. If my dear child of thenight listens to the bass lines alone of album opener “Condemned Identity,” I am sure he/she will agree with me.
Well, to my surprise, the press release tells Gruesome are a Death Metal inspired on classic bands as Death. Ok, so who am I to disagree? However, for the record, even the guitar solos point to the Thrash Metal direction as in “A Darkened Window.” The band also confesses to be guilty as charged “Silent Echoes” was written and recorded in the spirit of Death’s 1991 progressive death metal masterpiece, “Human.” Ok, now that things are clear I can say that I really love when albums put me in this kind of situation of having issues in labeling them. It means the album is so complex and with features that confused me. Definitely a con.
Now about the music in the album. I have to say it amazes me a lot. I like very much the exciting musical atmosphere Gruesome created for the album. The responsable for it is the drumming who is not only fast, but gives the songs that aura of excitement with a very creative and relentless pounding. Moreover, the band has the ability of making total shifts to its music as they did with tittle track “Silent Echoes“ that goes from the constant pounding to a Prog Metal inspired and back to the pounding in a blink of an eye. Just one more thing: how about the guitars of grand finale “Reason Denied“? Only one word: awesome!
“Silent Echoes” is an album that captivates the fan with extreme ferocity and velocitiy, but, in fact, what really takes the fan by the guts is the extremely well-cared instrumentals that bounce dextery with musical feeling – a very hard thing to find these days of plastic music.
Gruesome “Silent Echoes” will be released on June 06th via Relapse Records.
Track Listing:
01. Condemned Identity
02. A Darkened Window
03. Frailty
04. Shards
05. Silent Echoes
06. Voice Within the Void
07. Fragments of Psyche
08. Reason Denied
Watch “Condemned Identity” official music video here:
I’m just a lucky guy who has chosen metal to live with for a long time. Metal changed my life for good. It made me more confident and stronger. Metalheads are naturally far away from the mass mediocrity and don’t accept impostures from anybody else. Metal is more than music, it’s a life changing oportunity!