|
By Jasmina Schreck
|
|
Wednesday, 09 December 2009 |
Ding dong bells, Jasmina Schreck tells 65 Degrees North readers all about the latest demo releases from local bands, in cooperation with Rockpolis. Our December selection includes cds from Clock Paradox, Korina, and Cryptid. Rock on, 2009.
 Clock Paradox: Promo 2009
Clock Paradox, a new four-piece band hailing from Oulu and risen from the ruins of Impish, have self-published their first recording with an edition of fifty copies, including five songs that can be downloaded from the band’s website in mp3 format for free.
The opening track Awareness of Transiency serves as an instrumental intro to the release, a comparatively calm, ominous prelude to the inevitable storm of drums, guitars and deep death metal-grunting that follows.
Gutturals soon change to screaming, then to clean vocals. On the first actual song, The Knife, the singer’s versatility protrudes, the vocals are incredibly varied, and the music doesn't lack variety, either. Death metal is followed by a decent portion of progressive, and eventually thrash.
The last track Convictions is clearly–and in this reporter’s opinion a bit too obviously–reminiscent of Children of Bodom. Then again, there is hardly anything to criticise about the rest: Clock Promo 2009 is a twenty-minute musical patchwork of different metal styles that don’t sound redundant and have an amazingly good sound.
Only the lyrics could use some revision: all in all, they sound a little bit crude.
Listen to Clock Paradox: www.myspace.com/clockparadoxband
 Korina: Underground
With Underground spinning in my CD player, I think that Korina–rattle in English–describes their music pretty well.
An initial shout in Guerilla War, thrash metal riffs, and a prominent hectic style shows similarities to Stam1na at first. However, this first impression is soon superseded by a much more striking association, namely with Diablo.
If the at times slightly staccato way of singing, or yelling rather, that struggles to create a melody is reminiscent of the Helsinki band, the rest of the instrumentation is so similar that all of the songs–and particularly Death Parade–sound lifted from a Diablo album. Korina’s decision to commit themselves to English after some demos with Finnish lyrics adds one more similarity.
Underground is not a bad demo if you haven’t heard any Diablo. However, it is so clearly inspired by another band that it scores no points for originality.
Listen to Korina: www.myspace.com/thekorinaband
 Cryptid: Illusion of Balance
Cryptid, a fairly young death metal band from the white city of the north, have just released their first demo Illusion of Balance, partially to get their name out and partially to find a new drummer.
The earth literally seems to shake as soon as the vocals set in with the guitars, bass and lashing drums. Sure, you don’t understand a word of what the singer is uttering in a low, throaty, yet absolutely vigorous voice. It could very well be a growled version of a beer commercial.
Some might also say the vocals could use a bit more variety. I’m of the opinion that they blend in well with the rest of the music and are exactly what is needed. The instruments are easily distinguishable from each other, yet interact nicely. The only weak point I can find is that all three songs on the demo sound too much alike.
Every effort was also made to make the exterior look appealing. Illusion of Balance comes with something you could almost call a proper booklet, including lyrics and printed on paper that will last longer than a glance.
Listen to Cryptid: www.myspace.com/cryptidband
|
