Reviews : Albums : The Great Deceiver, "A Venom Well Designed"
Email the reviewerThe Great Deceiver, "A Venom Well Designed"
As of late, anything with the name Lindberg tagged along has been getting big promotion in the metal market. Of course, he's only become a modern day martyr after the death of At the Gates. Lock Up, The Crown and now this; its easy to say that he is working overtime.
The Great Deceiver is calamitously balanced between metal and a psychedelic warp-hole. Slow, driving riffs, distorted ambience, minimal drumming and the vitriol powered vocals. This might even be Lindberg's most powerful showcase of vocals when paired with the ambient backdrop. The music is centered more on simple melodies and creating a supremely elevated atmosphere of pain and melancholy despair; somewhat reminiscent of the breakdowns in At the Gates. Most of all, it is catchy. One listen to The Living End and it's hard to rub it out of the cranium. It's one of those songs where everything falls together and ambience-meets-melody-meets-Lindberg. The ambience is a good addition and definitely adds something unique to the music, but when you have the same reverb thing going throughout the album, it definitely gets on the nerves. There are the few drugged clean vocals and distorted whispers that are almost as unnecessary as Soilwork's clean vocals.
But, of course, these guys haven't perfected their formula yet. Lindberg may still sound the same, and he's doing a good job, but I believe that there is still a lot that can be achieved when they truly integrate all the elements of the songs, leaving A Venom Well Designed only half way to being a masterpiece.
Standout Tracks The Living End |
