I like Belgians. In fact, the one and only Belgian I ever met was into death metal, so that pretty much crafted my non-biased view of the entire population of this country. So, it’s about bloody time that we had a bit more death metal coming out of the country!! And Resistance are just the ticket, giving a ride like being on a Eurostar that takes you to Hades Central via the Lake of Fire. Oli, Richard and buddies literally tear you a new one, let you recover, then abuse you some more for good measure. This is one behemoth of a release; a twisted, gnarly and varied beast that is what metal should be about in the 21st Century. A bastardised, mongrel of death, with the heavier elements of hardcore present; these guys have enough twists and turns to keep even the neediest or riff-sluts happy. In fact, Two Sides of a Modern World is just very, very good.
These Belgians can certainly write some decent tunes. The singing is superb, and doesn’t drown out the music. There’s a nice mid section in the opener with the guitars that hit all the right notes before descending into aural mayhem. “Forgiven” is very, very unforgiving indeed.
“At the Top of the Kill” starts off impressively. Crushing and warped, with a great variation in delivery of the vocals and some nice double layering. The drumming drives things nicely without being overbearing, and one of the great successes here is the mix. With the style that Resistance purvey, the oft heard problem of some instruments overshadowing their counterparts is pleasingly avoided.
The Webster-esque bass intro of “Cerebral Failure” quickly descends into a thumping but gently accelerating riff that is of the highest malevolence, hooking you in like an overlong gaze at a gorgon. Even the brief soundbite in this one came over rather nasty, and the closing guitars coupled with the vocal section are frighteningly heavy! There’s even a bit of my favoured style of pig oink vocals (should be compulsory in all songs......)
The barrage of fierce metal that is “Lifeless For Nothing”, proves that these boys certainly know how to mix it up and keep it interesting. An amalgam of influences and styles that will interest those of you from Chimaira to some of the deathsters out there that like their death in the ilk of Malevolent Creation speed and arrangement. Damn.......you’d have to be cynical not to like this stuff!!
Prelude to Funeral and the title track are both impressive, interesting listens. It’s not often I get through a ten track album and want to give it another spin from beginning to end, but this one is an immediate scorcher. The feeling I get, is that it’s only going to sound better and better on subsequent plays, and there is more than enough to keep the most analytical metal mind happy.
“One last breath” will appeal to those riff-sluts among you with rolling drums accompanying the thundering axe work. Sounding like a better Lamb of God (not kidding)......the band nail this one from beginning to end. I would have loved to have heard the solo slightly higher in the mix though.
In a year that has some big bands releasing albums, Resistance have come up with one that is impressive, catchy and brutally effective, and one which will stand tall alongside some of the better publicized releases of 2008. I heartily recommend that you buy this album!!!
www.alveranrecords.com
www.myspace.com/resistance666
