Artist: Interrogate
Title: Silence the Fallen
Type: Mini-album
Label: self-released

From what I gather this is the second official release from Interrogate, a determined band of noisy bastards from Northern Ireland. Hats off to them for doing it all themselves – this min album is totally self-financed, and to boot they have just completed a tour of the American east coast (probably also self-financed!). It is rare indeed to see such a doggedly hard working band, a lot of lesser known bands these days seem to think the world owes them a living. Firstly, this mini-album sounds amazingly professional. This is no dog-rough demo, hyped up to be an official release – this EP/mini-album could easily have been released on a major label, with thousands of pounds thrown at it, so clear, professional and flawless does it sound.

Musically, these guys seem to be a melting pot of all sorts of metal influences, most of them fairly modern, and a lot of them American I think. I would imagine (and hope) they went down a storm on the east coast of the States. Normally I am rather dubious about bands that claim to have a diverse range of influences, but Interrogate seem to have pulled it off; I can hear lashings of groove laden stomp which remind me of bands like Pantera in their heyday, fantastic, epic, really well played guitar solos, massive, crushing Sabbath-inspired riffs (which also remind me of Life of Agony a little), heaps of rocking swagger, a very varied vocal assault from bassist/vocalist Darren Brown and even some more subtle, mellow moments too.

The overall effect sounds very American to me, with a lot of references from the nineties onwards, but I don’t mean this as a criticism. The nineties was certainly a decade from which sprang a multitude of metal monstrosities, but these guys seem to have captured some of the great things I can remember from that period; the songs are unpretentious, but very heavy, and rock very hard indeed. The boys can obviously play very well indeed; this isn’t just a three-chord stomp-a-thon, there are loads of little extra, subtle layers that really add to the aural beating Interrogate deliver. Darren’s vocals range from melodic, gravel throated rock to a full on aggressive growl and back again. There is a lot here to keep the newer recruits to metal happy; lots of variation between melodic shouting/singing and growly, angst-ridden screaming. All the songs have great dynamics, and more hooks than a champion angler. It doesn’t matter what flavour of metal you decide to call it – it rocks very hard indeed, and these boys really deserve to be noticed.

http://www.interrogate13.com

Jon Butlin

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