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Trauma > DetermiNation > Reviews
Trauma - DetermiNation

Stellar - 95%

destinedforfailure, January 12th, 2009

Contrary to the common belief about this album, I do believe DetermiNation is a fleshed-out album full of memorable riffs, harsh vocals, and very precise drumming. Now, I will admit that this is the album that originally got me into death metal (or extreme metal as a whole, really), so I can’t help but be a little bias, but I will try to refrain from any of that within my review.

First of all, I do want to say that I feel their seemingly not-as-crisp-production as Imperfect Like a God really compliments this album. It makes it sound raw and dreary, which perfectly goes with the feel to the album and really adds some nice atmosphere to it as well. Anyways, with that out of the way, onto the real review:

I would first like to discuss the guitars- they’re marvelous. They are technical with an edgy more brutal tone to them that makes them unique from the other Trauma albums. I’m not really sure what it is (probably the production), but something about them sets their sound apart from Trauma’s other albums. Also, I’ve noticed that musically, the guitars follow a much more jazzy composition; meaning they play a main riff, do some solos or go off in another direction, go back to the main riff and repeat the process. As the album progresses, this same exact formula does at times get repetitive. But overall, the guitars play memorable and catchy riffs and do not disappoint.

Now onto the drums- they really add momentum and life to this album. The drums were simply great. What really impressed me was how precise the double bass drums were. When doing blast beats at very high speeds, most drummers tend to get a little sloppy and the bass pedals don’t exactly alternate hitting the bass drums. Though, this wasn’t an issue for Trauma’s drummer. His blast beats were incredibly fast-paced, yet never became sloppy (listen to the beginning of “The Loneliest”). This can really apply to all of his drumming. My only real complaint is that similar to the guitars, they do get repetitive at times. Though, this is really just a minor problem. Overall, the drums are very well done.

Finally, we get to the vocals- and just like the rest of this album, they are stellar. The vocals implemented in this album are very angry and make you just as angry. Also, a nice variety of vocals are used in this album- ranging from talking, to harsh vocals, to screaming. There is really nothing more to say about the vocals; they’re simply great.

In general, while it is difficult to tell which Trauma album is their best, I do think that DetermiNation is horribly underrated and is definitely a kick-ass album. I recommend this to anybody who enjoys some great death metal!

Pretty good, not too memorable. - 75%

stonedjesus, September 14th, 2005

Brutal (but not stupid) death metal from Poland.

If you're familiar with Trauma's last two albums the content here will not disappoint. DetermiNation is a well done mixture of the raw brutal energy found on Suffocated In Slumber and the tight and clean production + hooks of Imperfect Like A God. While 'Imperfect...' had it's atmospheric and stop-start rythms, Determination is rythmically more energetic. Rushing triggered drumming and slamming riffs drive the mix, still this band isn't your typical "brutal" blasting nonsense. Additional speed and raw prodution values don't prevent the lull and occasional boredom all too familiarly present on this and most all Trauma releases.

Clean and professional production overall. Regardless of any inherent flaws this is a fine piece of modern Polish death metal.

75/100 : Nice production, varied textures, excellent musicanship.