Twilight of the Apocalypse

Thrash metal (and the many subgenres encompassed by that term) is many things, but nowadays it could be hardly argued that there is true innovation in that style. Antares Predator, a black/thrash outfit from Norway with an Austrian drummer, seems to buck that trend here. I'll admit, it took several listens before I truly appreciated it, but more on that later. The first thing that I noticed:

Riffs! And lots of them. Riffs galore. The guitar tone is such produced that the picking technique surges to the front, so we get to hear every nuance of the absolute masses of riffs. The riffs are tighter than tight, full of enough variation to keep my interest throughout most of the album. They don't have to be doing anything particularly demanding, but the guitarist finds some way of making the riffs just "click" with the drums. The riffs range from the melodic and diabolical to the robotic and deliberately dissonant, but none of that sounds too out of place; i.e., while the band uses riffs ranging from almost melodeath sounding riffs to straight thrash riffs, they all sound organic and very much recognizable as Antares Predator's unique style. Contributing to this is Oyvind's picking style, which is reminiscent of the cover of this album; robotic and efficient, with a seemingly endless supply of energy and endurance. This propels ordinary riffs to utterly flay the linings of my eardrums, and forms a great part of this album's appeal.

This runs quite well in tandem with the busy and frenetic poundings of Blastphemer, who, again, fits in with the credo of robotic and efficient, and anybody who's seen him drum knows how efficient he is with his motions and how he barely looks like he's tiring himself out at all. His performance here, even when he's not blasting away at supersonic speeds, is covered with jackhammer double bass, rapid-fire cymbal rolls, and kit-covering fills. He and Oyvind are in lockstep here, hammering in the riffs straight to the skull, with much clarity on the guitars that enhances the combined assault. Blastphemer slows down occasionally, as in the song Sacrament, but on songs like Mark 13 and Downfall, he really rips the kit up, doing blastbeats that would have the best green with envy.

Much ado has been made about the supposed "strange" parts; these usually consist of relatively clean guitars and groovy basslines, running seemingly counter to what black metal or thrash metal is. But you know what? They're well integrated into the music, and a lot of the times will show up again later as a more "metalized" version of the theme. As well, thrash metal isn't exactly known for innovation or experimentation, and it's nice to hear a black/thrash band do something odd and off the wall. Because if Antares Predator had just made a normal black/thrash album I would've forgotten about them by now. These oddball parts form a piece of the greater puzzle, and are just a part of the band's personality as the faster, more aggressive parts. It's obvious they don't take themselves 100% seriously, so what's wrong with a few random sounding parts here and there? Exactly nothing. You wanna know why?

Because Antares Predator has the riffs to back it up, which is why I fuckin' love this album.

When I first popped Twilight of the Apocalypse into my CD player, the only thing I really knew about Antares Predator was that the band featured former members of Keep of Kalessin and Belphegor, and that the album cover pictured a robotic angel that looked like it was probably created by Skynet. My opinion of Twilight of the Apocalypse would evolve continuously over the course of the next two weeks.

Upon my first listen I was caught off guard by what I heard. The first track, a straight-up blackened thrash assault, set the tone with an evil atmosphere. "This is going to be a completely dark, Dissection-like album," I thought. Wrong! The second track began in the same dark manner, but then I was surprised by an oddball riff at the 1:15 mark that stuck out like a sore thumb. This guitar part seemed plain goofy when compared to everything else that I had heard so far. The riff ruined the dark vibe instantly. More strange parts popped up over the course of the rest of the album. Unexpectedly, keyboards were introduced more prominently beginning with track five and continued to appear on most of the following tracks. Overall, the album felt a little "off" and confused because of the strange guitar riffs that cropped up here and there. The album was also kind of plain and maybe even a little boring due to some repetitive parts and average riffs. I actually had to force myself to listen to Twilight of the Apocalypse the first few times I heard it. Then something strange happened. One day when not consciously thinking about it, I noticed that some Antares Predator songs were stuck in my head...especially those "strange" guitar riffs. I decided to listen to the album again and realized that it had suddenly begun to click with me.

But enough about what I thought about the album initially. How does it seem after a couple of weeks of dedicated attention? While not flawless, this is a very solid, enjoyable album. Antares Predator attempt to blend some of their own unique ideas with tried and true blackened thrash, and they succeed for the most part. At times I hear some Emperor and Keep of Kalessin in their sound, although Antares Predator are really more thrashy than black metal. I hate to compare them to Keep of Kalessin since that seems a little too obvious, but they do sound relatively similar at certain moments. Like Keep of Kalessin, the vocals are a raspy mid-range growl. At times the vocals fit the songs perfectly, but upon occasion the vocalist seems to be struggling a bit. I do not know the lyrical content of the album for sure since I do not have lyrics. Judging by the cover and song titles, I would guess that they deal with post-apocalyptic sci-fi topics. (Is "Mark 13" based on the sci-fi movie Hardware about a robotic killing machine? I can only speculate. And what the hell is "BBQ Epilogue" about? Maybe it's about the earth after nuclear annihilation? Were barbecued people left in the aftermath?)

Antares Predator's greatest strength lies in the interaction between the guitar and drums. While the guitar doesn't play anything terribly flashy most of the time, it sounds amazing when it locks together seamlessly with the double bass drumming. There are numerous instances of these jaw-dropping parts that flash by quickly in several songs. This guitar / drum interplay reminds me of Megadeth's ultra-precise riffs, specifically the beginning of "Take No Prisoners" and "Holy Wars." The tremolo-picked guitar riffs lock together with the drums like fine machinery. The riffs flutter by so quickly that the guitarist sounds like he has a robotic humming bird for a right hand. The guitar tone is only mildly distorted, which seems odd at first, but it allows for great clarity. The Antares Predator drummer is definitely no slouch either. He switches up the double bass rhythms often, rather than playing the same thing continuously throughout the song. He uses some tasty ride cymbal accents along the way as well, especially in "Through the Deep."

The album's production does not have much bottom end at all. On the plus side, this allows for great clarity for all of the instruments during the fastest parts. The drawback is there's not a whole lot of meat as far as the bass frequencies are concerned. The bass guitar is largely undetected most of the time. Still, the bass plays an important role when needed. It's the main focus in the previously mentioned "oddball" riff found in "BBQ Epilogue." The bass also plays a prominent part in the intro to "Through the Deep" by interacting with pizzicato string parts! The part only lasts for about three seconds (and I'm sure it's keyboards rather than real strings), but it makes my ears perk up every time.

After spending so much time with this album, I have come to appreciate the band's little quirks, and I feel like I understand what they are about more now than I did the first time I put the CD in my player. The oddball riffs now feel like part of their style to me and actually sound like they fit in the songs in a weird way. However, my complaint about the album being plain at times still remains. Sometimes they let a riff wear out its welcome before they move on to another. At other times the songs feel too repetitive. This album would be much more enjoyable if it were about two songs shorter, or if they would have trimmed some of the more average parts. Having said that, I am extremely surprised at how much Twilight of the Apocalypse grew on me. Antares Predator has won me over. Hopefully these guys will iron out the few kinks in their formula and return with an even stronger album next time. I'm definitely looking forward to checking it out.

Originally written for http://www.metalpsalter.com

I've looked to begin this review in my usual style with some quirky fact or statement regarding the band/album in question, but it seems I'm struggling to do that with Norwegian extreme metallers Antares Predator. Yes they feature in their ranks ex-members of Keep of Kalessin and Belphegor but knowing the revolving door policies of many bands in this world that is no great surprise, especially when it comes to bands like Belphegor. Could this be a sign of things to come?

Well, the catch-all term 'extreme metal' is that which best describes the riff and blast found on these guys’ debut album, featuring black metal riffing against death metal brutality and thrash metal speed with the result being a record that will appeal to the fanbase of bands like Belphegor, Zyklon and 1349. On the positive side "Twilight Of The Apocalypse" is a well-produced and thoroughly modern taste of the heaviest end of the metal spectrum with each element loud and clear, and in the case of the drums, an example of modern-day extreme metal drumming replete with incalculable double bass kicks designed to sap the energy of even the fittest drummer. Songs like "Mark 13" and "Through The Deep" would have 1349 struggling to keep up while the band make their attempt at displaying something different by injecting the title track and "Downfall" among others with a healthy dose of FX/synth, giving these moments a more dramatic and grandiose feel akin to recent Dimmu Borgir material. Vocalist Steffan Schulze too keeps up the Dimmu similarities with a respectably decent performance in a style somewhere around the marks laid down in history by Shagrath and Ihsahn (Emperor) - yeh it's hard to be original around these shores but Schulze does his job well.

Of course, as you were expecting a negative side to the story, this one comes primarily in the form of the album's production. You may hear me or other reviewers talk about natural or organic sounds, a production style I personally prefer - well it is albums such as this that create those feelings. "Twilight Of The Apocalypse" is too un-natural in its execution to really generate any feelings of warmth or great appreciation towards it in the way classic, timeless thrash, death and black metal has done for many years. With much of the overall conception teetering slightly the wrong side of the human/mechanical divide the opportunity to feel at one with the music is missing, leaving merely the chance to appreciate the brutality and extreme metalness that is no doubt there aplenty. It's just that with better albums in my collection from some of the aforementioned bands like Belphegor, Keep of Kalessin and Zyklon and a sound not nearly unique enough to make its mark on an old-timer like me, "Twilight Of The Apocalypse" will fall into the fields of top-level mediocrity, pulled out only for when I'm in a particularly disgusted, foul and brain-dead mood.

Originally written for www.Rockfreaks.net

Antares Predator is a band that sees together the talents of Steffan Schulze (Scariot), Warach (Keep of Kalessin), Mikal Svendsen and drummer Blastphemer (Absentia Lunae, Belphegor) to perform a brand of science-fiction, futurist black and thrash metal. Now, before you form subconscious comparisons of a band like Aura Noir or Bewitched, I should state that these guys have a different approach, distinct largely due to the technical precision of their delivery. These guys play their riffs as tight as buttons, much more reminiscent of the more technical minded Norse black metal bands like Keep of Kalessin, or 1349. They use a lot of blasting and cold rhythms, with a vocal style that wends directly between the poles of black rasp and death grunt. Synthesizer sounds appear where necessary to transfer the music just far enough into an otherworldly realm, and these are appreciated, because I often found the riffing less than compelling.

The opener "Downfall" is an example of what I didn't like about the album, a series of fast and pummeling rhythms that, while technically sound and brutal over the blasting, never seem to hit that sequence of notes that could make the track memorable. I remember a similar reaction I had from the earlier albums of Susperia, who had another of these polished approaches to the black and thrash blend. A few of more mid paced tracks on this album like "BBQ Epilogue" and "Sacrament" did their share to compensate, in particular the atmosphere on the latter, which makes good use of its large, plodding chords to create a haunting cyclical rhythm. The synth tones that opened "Orion" were really cool, but though its one of the finer fast pieces on the album, it's all precision, modern Norse black metal without much emotion outside of the vocals (Steffan has an approach not unlike Ihsahn here, but a little fuller in tone). The next two tracks also have great keyboards, and the title track is honestly pretty excellent throughout, not to mention the instrumental "Death" which closes the album with a series of morose melodies that conjure both thunder and starfall.

In the end, there is just enough in this Twilight of the Apocalypse to please the ear, but I certainly think the potential exists to write more memorable riffs, especially when the band is exploring their thrash half. The science fiction themes, Voivod-like logo, and atmosphere created when the keyboards and guitars clash are all positive factors, but something sterile remains in a large chunk of the riffs that don't quite summon up a replay value. Fans of Keep of Kalessin, Behemoth, Susperia, and most modern Norse or Swedish black/death hybrid artists should give this a listen if they're into the cosmic themes, as there is at the least an undeniable potential for greatness here.

Highlights: Sacrament, Twilight of the Apocalypse, Death

-autothrall
http://www.fromthedustreturned.com