One Man Army And The Undead Quartet -- 21st Century Killing Machine Review
Posted by Evocator Manes on 05.09.2006
That flying object you see is subtlety going right out the window.
One Man Army And The Undead Quartet 21st Century Killing Machine
2006
Nuclear Blast
8.0
By the title of the band and album alone, Johan Lindstrand is making it abundantly clear where his loyalties lie. Not content to just roll over and play dead after the untimely demise of The Crown, Lindstrand holed up in a studio for six months, writing songs, something he did not get to do much of in The Crown. Along the way, he made a demo, then realized that he was again onto something that would lead back to the trail of extreme music and recruited a band, had offers from a number of labels, chose to start fresh and with the band in town, went into the studio to create a slab of molten metal. Clearly not interested in resting, Lindstrand will also assume vocal duties on the recently decimated Incapacity.
This band was designed to kick ass and they start off immediately by flinging riffs before settling down into a mid-tempo chug, which they test constantly by heavy duty double-picked riffing. Lindstrand takes his Crown persona up several notches and pours on the evil on song after song. The mid-tempo actually works to his advantage here as he has attitude to spare and the songs here leave him ample opportunity to stretch it out. The comparisons are inevitable to The Crown and expecting that kind of force and magnitude here will leave the listener disappointed. For better or worse, this is its own new beast and its domain is pummeling, overpowering, manly vocals over a pounding beat and heavy duty guitars. Nothing complicated here, just as punchy as a flying wrecking ball. Perhaps the most appropriate metaphor is that of a bulldozer, which the band recognizes, naming one of their songs Bulldozer Frenzy. 21st Century Killing Machine is also highly appropriate as well.
I may as well just compare this to The Crown now and get it out of the way. Lindstrand's vocals are at times equal to his work with The Crown, at times considerably better. He certainly seems more focused and energized. The guitar firepower has gone down several notches, because it is impossible to replace the Tervonen/Sunesson duo. The guys here are good, but by no means great, preferring to dwell more in the thrash arena than death metal. Janne Sarenpaa of The Crown is either the best drummer out there or right in the top of the running. No one is going to compare favorably with him. The bass is largely buried in the mix here, so it is hard to tell, but Magnus from The Crown was a bass ace and I will err on the side of caution with him, given how complex much of The Crown's music was. It is also clear that Lindstrand didn't do much of the writing with The Crown. Stylistically, this is far different and much, much less complex.
The artwork here however rivals anything out there. In fact, this may be one of the all-time best death metal covers, with the motif of horror movies and death metal being combined in a impeccable blend, yet maintaining some seriously cool artwork. Lindstrand keeps his Elvis schtick going on the gatefold and the rest of the space is occupied with fully reprinted lyrics and credits. The back of the jewel insert features the band in backlit and is a great shot. The artwork here is excellent and the booklet is put together very well, making it the perfect complement to the disc.
The 411: Zero points for originality, but no one is coming here for that. When you're as big of a part of a band as heavily influential as The Crown was, you're entitled to keep flying the skull-crushing metal banner high. This band takes some chances with staging and different vocal effects, to be sure, such as on songs like Hell Is For Heroes, one of the best and most memorable tracks on this disc. This surely won't appeal to everyone, but fans of The Crown, Entombed and solid, well-constructed heavy fucking metal will find much to enjoy here. One of the stronger releases so far this year.
