Recoil Vor : Sleep For The Masses
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Recoil Vor : Sleep For The Masses

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On the surface, this appears to be a pretty straight up and down modern metal/melodic death metal release. A pretty damn strong one, but possibly with little to distinguish it from hundreds and even thousands of such releases that come out every year.

Indeed, the album opens in typical style, groove based metal with strong hints of melody providing colour and dynamics amid the aural onslaught. Which is all good, and this Sydney based four piece do it very well. There’s plenty here for traditional metalheads to sink their teeth into.

But some kind of spark is needed, a point of difference, a nuance to set them apart from the myriad acts doing this style across the planet these days. And it comes. After the blistering metal opening, the band bring back the pace with the strange, but strangely compelling instrumental ‘Commit to Memory’, which features a very Australian female voice recounting witnessing a rather violent suicide. ‘The Fear’ give us the first real taste of clean melodic vocals, which provide some further welcome light and shade.

Then it gets really adventurous. ‘Unto the Paradox’ features Jahred from American band Hed PE, who lends his expert, staccato rapped vocals to proceedings. It’s surprisingly effective, and many props to these guys for having the balls to do something like this, at the very strong risk of having conservative metalheads troll them for going all ‘nu-metal’ or ‘rap crap’. Good stuff.

This album is a real journey, with some real adventurous spirit. Great to see an Aussie band, whose signature sound is still very much modern death/thrash, throwing some very different elements into the heavy mix.

BY ROD WHITFIELD

Best Track: Breathing

If You Like These, You’ll Like This: Children of Bodom, Soilwork, Universum

In a Word: Different