The virus spreads...
Swedish death metal act Hypocrisy are back with their latest offering "Virus", their previous albums were mainly based on the topic of Aliens and other extra-terrestrial topics, but this new album focuses more on War, Violence and conveniently, Viruses.
Opening with "Warpath" an incredibly powerful song that makes you wish you were in a death metal band yourself, pure destruction. "Scrutinized" I am led to believe, is the first single from the album, a stand offering, nothing great, and nothing terrible. "Fearless" slows down the fast-paced tempo slightly but sticks to the normal Hypocrisy sound (Screeching vocals, a few melodies here and there). "Blood drenched", "Craving for another killing" and "Compulsive Psychosis" are all of a similar ilk, sounding like "Scrutinized". The slower tracks on the album are "Living to die", "Incised before I've Ceased and "Let the Knife Do the Talking".
The thing about this album is there are only two paces. Slow or fast. Each slow song sounds like the other and likewise with the fast songs. And like a lot of bands, the best track is the first one (Warpath, not including the pointless intro). The production is exceedingly good, mainly because the CD is HDCD (High Definition Compatible Digital, which basically means amazing quality). The vocals are nice and clear, the guitars are loud and clear, and for once the bass is audible and the drums are very, very good! Perhaps the best thing on the album (instrument-wise) is the drumming, very fast, very technical, and therefore very good.
It's pretty obvious that many 11 year old Slipknot lovers are going to go into HMV and see the cover for this and say "Wow that is so cool! I can't wait to show my friends when I get it". Simply because the cover is completely kick ass (Even better than the music in some cases).
This album is a good offering from the Swedish death metallers, but sadly it does not compare to their most recent album, "The Arrival". Sure this album is alright, but I am fed up of just getting bands that are "alright" in the metal world. If this band tried harder they could've produced something very good, instead they have produced something which is good, but perhaps not good enough?