Abstract Maledictions

This act hail from the Nevermore school of thought by providing a more aggressive and less technical rendition of this quite widely spread influence. In other words, the album reviewed here contains a blend of modern and old school power/thrash (more thrash than power) with a hefty progressive flavour. Not much from that description would cover the band’s beginnings that feature one demo (“Born Evil”) released in the distant 1990 under the name Black Crusader, the style quite intense bashing thrash without too many embellishments.

A string of demos followed later in the 90’s the guys having already embraced their current moniker, the delivery also having moved up the proficiency scale, almost fully shaped on the EP. Most of the material from it has found a place here as well, and even provides the opener, “Sacrificed”, an excellent spastic technical headbanger which also introduces the excellent emotional clean vocals obviously modelled after the ones of Warrel Dane (R.I.P.). The wild ride goes on with “The Fall of Humanity”, another fast-paced lasher with more controlled riff-patterns also served with a somewhat epic vibe the latter even increased on “Reincarnation Denied”, another reminder of the EP, which is a sharp mid-paced shredder with a couple of more dramatic speedy escapades. More of that on “Soulless Breed”, a modern brooder with heavy steam-rolling guitars that stagger towards the doom metal field at times, but “The Depths of The Shadow” wards off the sleep-inducing danger with a portion of brisk lively rhythms, a more immediate explosive proposition.

“Beyond the Blood”, the last remnant from the EP, is a superb engaging roller-coaster with complex progressive arrangements and choppier riff-formulas, the band weaving their soundscapes more patiently although a few faster-paced excursions are invariably provided along the way, heightening the drama. “Divine Justice” switches onto dynamic speed/thrashing with smattering gallops keeping everyone highly entertained including with several more entangled technical knots. “Repent Your Sins” carries on with the energetic fiesta with steel cutting riffs flying from all sides the guys threatening to reach death metal-ish dimensions even at some stage, the aggressive approach reaching a boiling point, the sweeping melodic leads trying their best to alleviate the tension which won’t be very big at the start of the closing “The House By The Ancient Cemetery”, an encompassing 10.5-min odyssey the band trying to beat Nevermore at their own game with elaborate mosaics, atmospheric balladic interludes, intricate staccato rhythms, and some really intense thrashing, retaining the listener’s interest throughout with surprising alternations of all these ingredients.

A really fitting entry into the volatile early-00’s metal kaleidoscope when new transformations, or rather resurrections, were looming on the horizon, and it wasn’t quite certain yet which way the scene was going to swing. Although this opus here clings more towards the classic ways of expression, it does pay its kudos to a fading movement that kept their major inspiration on the crest of the wave for quite some time, and could have kept these Swedes there, too, probably if the latter had voted to continue with their multi-layered thrashisms in the new millennium.

Some of them did, as a matter of fact, like the vocalist Kjell Andersson who took part in the establishment of another very good outfit, Altered Aeon, and the drummer Patrik Sjöberg later joined his brother Peter aka Peter Lake, yes that same one, the founder and frontman of the technical/progressive death metal wizards Theory in Practice. The bass player Andreas Vaple also found temporary shelter with the black/death metal purveyors In Aeternum… in other words, the guys carried on in one form or another, still looking for those elusive abstract tools of execution that they nearly got a hold of some 18 years ago.

In my neverending Quest for Perfect Steele, I stumbled upon this obscure thrash release. It's most certainly obscure for a reason, but it's also thrash, and therefore worth at least one spin.

Azotic Reign are not as esoteric or pretentious as the title might suggest. The overall sound IS quite inaccessible, even for a thrash album. However, this is more because of a conglomerate of musical missteps, which I'll describe below, rather than over-technicality or a particularly bleak approach. This album could just as well have been released in the early '90s.

The musicianship is fine. The guitar sound is pretty heavy and dark, which sometimes makes the individual riffs muddy, even though the mixing itself is clear and sharp. The leadwork on the other hand is rather melodic, whenever it exists. If you're looking for long solo sections, you can stop reading right now. The best thing here is the drummer, who sounds like he has four arms and four legs!

Now the missteps. I quite like the album while I'm listening to it, the mega-energetic drumming keeps the head a-bang and the feet a-tap all the way through. The problem comes afterwards, when you realize that you can't remember a single musical theme on the whole album. It's just not particularly memorable anywhere.

It seems like they didn't put much thought into the choruses, and save for the irritating "Beyond the blood", I'm not even sure there are any. Also, like I said, the riffs are just sort of "there", and little more. You never pay any particular attention to them, because they all sort of blend together. Solos are rare and short, thrash breaks rarer and shorter still.

There's also no variety to speak about. Most songs move in the upper mid-tempo range, and there's hardly ever a tempo change in an individual song. Closing "House by the ancient cemetary" is the exception to all this. Quite a haunting piece, and easily the standout track here, though not fantastic or anything. It's certainly not ten minutes long either, but adds several minutes of silence after the actual song, and then some idiotic noise tacked on at the end. I hate when bands do this - riffs, if you please!

The lyrics are mostly of a spiritual nature, and there are lots of them! Way too much lyrical focus in my opinion, as it often seems like the songs are written around the plodding vocal lines. I guess this also explains why there are so few real instrumental breaks on the album. This approach could work if the singer is Mathias Blad or something, but we're not that lucky.

Kjell Andersson is quite decent for the most part, with a solid mid-range voice, harsh enough to thrash convincingly. Unfortunately, he also has the horribly annoying habit of drawing out and raising the pitch of the last note of the sentences. He does this in every single song, and it starts to REALLY get on my nerves after about ten minutes. A gimmick, I'm sure. This just in: You sold exactly three copies of this, so all those hours spent perfecting your FUCKING GIMMICK was for nothing, EH!?

"Takes one to know one" - Kim Philby

That said, at least five songs here are "alright", and the other four "don't suck". Might not be a lasting experience, but send these guys a thought at Christmas. Or don't. I don't care.

Favourite songs: "The house by the ancient cemetary", "The fall of humanity" ,"Reincarnation denied"