Made in Hell

Every so often, a band comes along that I can’t really relate to as musicians, but whose overall presentation rings clear as a bell and elicits my respect. Case in point: Retribution play a modern brand of industrial-tinged post-thrash that I don’t particularly like, but their sound really drives forth the dystopian connotations that spawn from their lyrics. This is a band that is clearly confined by the sound of what is popular in modern metal, but is vehement and dedicated enough that glimpses of drive and conviction escape the suffocating repression of overt groove/mall/metalcore impurities. Every track is a white-hot chunk of grade-A rage against the system and those that support it, perhaps not literarily refined to an Orwellian degree, but nonetheless potent.

Only one song on the album dares to exceed the four minute mark, leaving mostly a blistering wake of quick half-thrashers. The album does contain some faster tracks, but tends to reside in a mechanical, mid-paced death march. At best, “Made In Hell” resembles a latter day Annihilator (Comeau-era) meets Shadows Fall meets Halford, while at worst it more closely recalls Lamb of God, Fear Factory, and Drowning Pool variously, entirely dependent on the tempo and the style of vocals being employed. The vocalist is good at moments (like when he does those falsetto intros and his actual singing voice, which is like John Bush’s) but much of his presence is spent in a coarse Randy Blythe-approved roar. This sounds like bad news bears of course, but there’s enough good to outweigh these missteps. Dense numbers like “Snuff Sinematography” (sic), “Radical Cuts,” and “Ordinary Judas” keep this album’s head just above middle-of-the-road.

Additionally, the leadwork is good and the production is good, though in this day and age, that’s to be expected, even from a debut album.

So no, “Made In Hell” isn’t the thrashiest thing around, but it’s decent as far as modern metal goes. Their convincingly discordant tone alone gives them enough to stand out among some of their lesser peers. Recommended for those who wish Lamb of God would pick up the pace a bit more and suck a hell of a lot less.


Originally written for: http://www.metal-observer.com