Reading the song titles of this album I was expecting a heavy doom laden monster from this new Swedish act. In some respects I was disappointed yet pleased at the same time that I was wrong as the band uses a melodic death metal template but decorate their songs with a myriad of rock influences. The opening song “Birth” begins quietly and serenely before a down tuned thuggish riff comes in. Vocally the band uses a hardcore style snarl as the rock influence starts to appear half way in. The riffs are chunky and deliver well but the lead is tuneless, which may have been intentional but makes the song amateurish.
A twanging bass hook infests “You Better Be Dead” making the song sound a little industrial but modernised by the riffing style. The songs do plod along at coasting pace as the band seems in no rush on any of their songs. I couldn’t help but think of Spineshank on “Quake” due to the riff and that modern vibe that is so distinctive today. “Redemption” sees a momentary shift in style with a church organ like beginning and here the heavy rock style is far more noticeable as I thought the song would have benefited from a clean vocalist approach. The title track has a much deeper tone with a simple guitar riff that is mixed with much more complex rhythms on bass and drums. The pace changes like Black Label Society and it is hard not to nod your head to the groove the band has created within all the songs as the lead is far better here thankfully.
As the album progresses there is a hypnotic beat within all the songs that is certainly catchy but the band peppers their songs with unusual touches like a Spanish style guitar lick on “Demonride”. The album closes with a song that wouldn’t be amiss on a Blackmore’s Night album, being folky and acoustic, yet drenched in keyboards. This is one of the more interesting albums to check out this month and is worth checking out a track or two as the band has a lot of good ideas and have a little sub-genre all of their own with this album.
http://www.myspace.com/igneoushuman
