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Izegrim > Code of Consequences > Reviews
Izegrim - Code of Consequences

Nothing grim here... - 62%

Lane, May 20th, 2012

Izegrim in a nutshell: Thrash meets death metal, both Swedish and European ways, ripping guitars, but good sense of melody too, and then these growled female vocals by a cute blonde, and all this done in modern way. Does that bring any bands to your mind? To mine it did, and raised the following question. Are Izegrim a Arch Enemy clone? No, they are not. That thing cleaned out of the way, it's much easier to dive into 'Code of Consequences', this Dutch band's third full length album.

I've known the band from their previous release, the 'Point of no Return' EP (2009). I thought it was somewhat Arch Enemy influenced. Okay, bassist/vocalist Marloes' nasty cat-growl instantly brings forth this fact. She sounds similar to Angela Gossow, in good and bad. I have never got into this style of vocals, even though I must raise my hat for letting it rip like hell. Beats all pig squealing voices, heh.

About the music, then. Okay, I have to admit, that 'Victim of Honor' reminds of the aforementioned Swedes, even though it begins with heavy, meaty riffage not far from Bolt Thrower (the rhythm guitar tone here is kind of close to some BT releases). The song gets more airy, and when the rocking chorus is boomed out, the expectations towards the album raise radically. However, Izegrim's axe-wielders are far from Amott brothers' skilled yet soulful fretboard hustle, but cannot be called "bad" or such, far from it! With 'My Secret Society', the band steer towards heavier outlet, even though the song does carry some melodies. So, the band balance between riff-driven stuff (anything from death metal to thrash metal and some more rocking ones) and at times serve more melodious bits. The band can write good songs, but they end up being well-nigh unsurprising. And surely get close to Arch Enemy's style at times. Generally, there's not much to get excited about this album, because the band cannot hit it big time.

Sound-wise this is typical modern affair: Everything is loud, so it's too full-crammed yet still everything is audible. Not too machiney, though. The band still brings that one Swedish name to my mind and somehow is left faceless because of it. This feels devoid of of soulfulness. 'Code of Consequences' is a promising effort, but yeah, something very vital is missing.

(originally written for ArchaicMetallurgy.com in 2011)

A churning incendiary of too few consequences - 67%

autothrall, May 2nd, 2011

Though I'm sure the members of Izegrim are by this point sick of the comparisons, such will inevitably be drawn to the popular Swedish and English collaboration that is Arch Enemy. This is not simply due to Marloes' long blond locks of hair and similar energetic attitude as Angela Gossow, but the proximity in composition and overall style. You see, the Dutch band also plays a mixture of melodic death and thrash metal with the howling, rasped female vocals. Alas, there are some minor deviations in form that make the two distinct from one another. For one, Marloes plays bass too, and the guitars use a more forceful, chugging tone that feels like laying out bricks against the listener's face, even if the individual guitar lines are not so catchy as those that Chris and Mike Amott have been able to conjure through the years.

Otherwise, it's not a large stretch. Competent musicianship, concrete rhythmic sensibility and a blend of bursting speed and primal mosh oriented grooves. As a track like "My Secret Society" so ably proves, Izegrim can appeal to both the old school thrashing sect stoked on Sodom or Kreator to the post-Carcass variety of harder hitting melodic death. Actually, a mix of Amott era Carcass and Dutch countrymen Dead Head is not far from the mark. Clearly songs like "Fade Into Obscurity" and "Psychopathic Mind" will hold some appeal to fans of Necroticism and Heartwork, tautly woven melodies inherent in the hammering muted streams of release, but Code of Consequences also gives itself ample room to breathe with sparser constructions like the title track and the atmospheric thundering of "Incommunicado" and "Center of Momentum". At points I felt like Marloes viscous sneer was prone to monotony, and I'd like to hear her stretch her tone for more emotional range and devastation, but she does hit pretty hard regardless.

Otherwise, the one thing holding this third album from greater staying power is a noted lack of really distinct riffs. Unfortunately, that's a critical setback. All of the songs are consistent enough, solid as a hammer for straining the neck in the live setting, but there are too rarely those moments of careening melodic bliss or addictive rhythmic penetration that would make me want to revisit this often in the future. Code of Consequences is little more than a reliable alternative to Wages of Sin, hard enough to bloody the nose but perhaps not enough to break it. They've got most of the ingredients necessary to cast their spell upon an audience already saturated to death with modern thrash and melodeath, but there is that one exotic, memorable reagent missing that would truly spill the cauldron over.

-autothrall
http://www.fromthedustreturned.com