10

Should I be reviewing this?

I’m not sure what the point of this compilation album actually is. The disc fell through the door without a press release or any sort of indication as to why it’d been put together. The only recognisable bands on the track listing are Heaven Shall Burn, Arch Enemy and Maroon. The artwork is a 2000 AD inspired bare chested long haired bloke with a couple of swords. But then I did a little digging and realised that the subtitle for this release is ‘Iconoclast’ and the album has been put together by Century Media (one of the great record companies) presumably as a showcase for Heaven Shall Burn and their new album ‘Iconoclast’. Ah, I can see it all falling into place. Their new song ‘Endzeit’ is the opening tune on this collection followed by the opener from the latest Arch Enemy CD. I have to say it’s a cracking start as Heaven Shall Burn’s song is a short nugget of quality. I have to admit that I am unfamiliar with Heaven’s… output and, on the strength of this song alone, I’ll be looking to check out a little more of the German 5 piece.

A shade more unearthing and I found that almost all of the songs on ‘The Final Resistance’ have either just been released or are about to be released over the next month. I guess that this album really is more of a promo for new releases than a traditional compilation, a fact I probably should have realised straight away, curse my slow brain. But it looks like a prolific start to 2008 for Century Media and one backed with quality as the first four songs on ‘The Final Resistance’ impresses, which is surprising for a compilation. Excellent material from Suicide Silence and Maroon hammer home the realisation that there are still legs in the melodic death metal scene.

'Anthems OF The Apocolypse' by Winds of Plague (great name) is simply stunning and contains that type of guitar work that makes you go, "Oh my, what's that?" Himsa surprised this reviewer by penning a decent tune, especially as they bored the ass of my when I saw them in Manchester, I nearly admitted I was wrong…I said 'nearly'. But as the lord giveth with one hand he takes away with the other. The track by Warbringer is fairly standard and its production, compared to the songs around it, is really poor. It is a similar scenario with Sworn Enemy. Their drummer and vocalist must've had a row with the guitar players and turned their instruments down whilst they weren't there, ala Black Sabbath mark II, because all potential punch and drive is lost by their low position in a mix.

I’m not sure if this is an actual release for people to buy or just a promo. My guess is the latter, but either way it’s full to the brim with some wonderful examples of modern, cutting edge, brutal metal and melodic death. There are many highlights from Arch Enemy, The Agony Scene to Heaven Shall Burn themselves. But it’s Winds Of Plague who will make me search the metal shops and you tube, because it was simply brilliant. If you can find this compilation anywhere then give it a listen, you may just find a band that your life has been missing. If you can’t find it then just log onto www.centurymedia.com and check out the new releases. Or you could search on Room Thirteen as I suspect most of these albums have been/will be reviewed in the past or coming weeks.