Condemned

Prior to hearing ‘Condemned’, technical doom metal was a mix of styles I pretty much considered impossible. There are plenty of doom metal bands that take a strong influence from Fates Warning’s early albums, so progressive doom metal: sure. But the idea of abrupt shifts in rhythms, tempos and time signatures did not blend with the despair-ridden atmosphere of the better doom metal bands in my mind. Enter the debut album of North Carolina’s Confessor. Not only does it manage to make sense of combining all the aforementioned elements, it also sounds significantly more anguished than many of their peers.

First things first: those expecting a more complex version of Solitude Aeturnus’ prog-ish interpretation to the Candlemass sound may not get what they are hoping for. In fact, Confessor does not really sound like any other band. The borderline thrashy riff work brings the better moments of Invocator’s second album to mind and there are traces of what Meshuggah would later attempt, but the voice of Scott Jeffreys immediately blows those comparisons out of the water. His high-pitched, almost spotlessly clean voice sounds more tortured than any growler ever could. His sustained notes sound like Jeffreys is actually exorcising some persistent demons.

The closest comparison would be a considerably slowed-down and less bass-heavy Watchtower, a band Jeffreys briefly fronted, in the sense that Confessor hardly stays in the same gear for too long. Only ‘Eve Of Salvation’ is built upon a relatively steady foundation of Black Sabbath-influenced riff work, while drummer Steve Shelton keeps his rhythms fairly straightforward. By contrast, ‘Prepare Yourself’ contains some of the most twisted, intricate riffing that Brian Shoaf and the late Ivan Colon are subjecting themselves too on the record. The rest is closer to the latter than the former: the riff work is dense, the drumming busy and Jeffreys wails lines that sometimes appear to have little connection to the accompanying music. And yet it works.

While there aren’t really any tracks that strike me as better than the others, a stand-out track is ‘Uncontrolled’, which has a slightly more thrashy vibe than the rest of the album through its (marginally) higher tempo and the gang-shouted backing vocals in its chorus. The title track that follows has a slightly more uptempo and violent vibe than the other tracks as well, mostly due to Shelton punishing his kit like there’s no tomorrow. His bass drums sound dry, but that somehow works well with the riffs. The start-stop riffing of ‘The Stain’ sounds delightfully claustrophobic, while ‘Suffer’ ties the album together very nicely.

In the end, my only two complaints for ‘Condemned’ are minor. Cary Rowells’ bass is hardly audible most of the time; it’s there, but it’s far too trebly for its own good. Also, since the songs don’t have very clear structures – at least not initially – they blend together a little at times. Neither of those factors should discourage anyone from listening to what is truly one of the most unique albums in heavy metal history. It might need a few spins to sink in. The first time, you’ll wonder what the hell you’re listening to. The second time, you might be able to wrap your head around it a little more. From then on, you’ll either get it or you won’t.

Recommended tracks: ‘Uncontrolled’, ‘Suffer’, ‘Prepare Yourself’

Originally written for my Kevy Metal weblog

It was years and years ago when I heard a mixed bands compilation and there was this song that totally blew my mind. Sadly, there were no names or a track list on that forgotten recorded cassette, so I never knew the band or the song's name. For years I couldn't find it again, but that song I could never forget and sometimes I could clearly hear those high-pitched screams with some kind of sick desperation and anguish in them, the awesome weird guitar riffs, and, above all, the drums, those offbeat, broken-rhythm drums, that sounded so different from anything I'd heard before. Years went by and then suddenly one day it came back to me. The album was "Gods of Grind" (God knows why because there was little to no grind in it) and there it was, alongside Entombed, Carcass and Cathedral (another band that took me years to find again). The band was Confessor. The song: "Condemned".

Immediately I got my self a copy of the album "Condemned" and yes! The magic was intact: the malevolent riffs, the sick screams, and most of all, the out-of-tempo, cryptic, and unique percussion. I remember sometimes thinking "do they make this on purpose or are they just plain bad at playing and can´t even keep the beat?", but deep inside I knew there was something there and I just couldn't figure it out, because for some reason I just couldn't stop hearing this album, especially the song "Condemned". So I kept up my research and then I found this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_54BL0aOt5E. It features Confessor's drummer Steve Shelton and a deconstruction of "Condemned"'s drumwork, and then it was all clear to me. These guys are plain geniuses.

I consider myself someone with a trained ear sense to a certain degree, being capable as I am to play songs like "Master of Puppets, "Sweating Bullets", "Seventh Son of a Seventh Son", just to name some, without the need of tabs or partitures, but what these Confessor guys did is in another technical level. I'm sure that with some effort I could probably play these songs on my guitar, but the question is "could I've ever write these kinds of songs myself?". The answer is "surely not". To write this kind of stuff you need to have a totally different musical structure and a different wiring in your head. It took me all those years and especially to see that video to finally understand the magnitude of this album.

So this is not your typical metal album. The contrast between the outstanding work by Steve Shelton and Scott's almost out of tune and shrieky vocals seem to actually work. Some consider his voice annoying, but for me it blends perfectly here and adds a different flavor, like a touch of teenage anarchy amongst technical perfection. This voice is the one thing that tells me "hey, they are not just some uptight musical geniuses, they have a rebel attitude, too!" Most of the time you wont be able to bang your head or tap your foot to the floor in the traditional way because there is no traditional tempo to follow. If you really need to move your body to this music, perhaps an epileptic seizure would be a more appropriate dance that fits these songs, and for some strange reason maybe you will start loving it when you realize that this album is an outstanding demonstration of musical awareness with out of this world technical skills.

Confessor have been around since 1986, and were truly ahead of their time. They were doing the "offbeat" and odd time-signature thing before Meshuggah (which is the most popular metal band utilizing those methods). I have met all the band members (we won't get into that here) and the drummer admitted to "not being able to read the first page of the Book of Timing". LOL. Anywho....onto the album. Crunchy, doomy sounding guitars, technical, offbeat drumming, driving bass lines, and vocals that are high pitched and the vocal lines don't seem to be tied down to any part of the songs themselves. Best of all....it is actually cohesive. Songs all flow, and do not get boring. After several listens I realized that musical genius is at work on this album....I mean (like someone said before me) technical doom metal? That was unheard of at the time! A very interesting listen, although it may take several listens to actually understand this band :) I recommend this album to any fan of technical music, or doom. One of the most innovative albums in metal.....go get it!