| CD REVIEW Empire Auriga |
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Band : Empire Auriga Flotsam And Jetsam. A band whose existence I knew of, but also I band I never followed, I admit that up to now I didn’t know even one of their tracks. So it was with great reluctance I accepted to review this album, even more since few of the albums coming out on Nuclear Blast really are what I like. And knowing that Flotsam And Jetsam are more or less categorized as a trash band… But what a surprise it was. OK, maybe it’s a bit heavy for my liking, but it just oozes energy. Those riffs, those guitar solos, those tempo changes….and to top it of songs that are well written. Oh, and did I mention that the vocal performance of Eric Knutson is superb. In my younger days I used to like some trash metal now and then. I bought imported versions from Exiter’s and Exodus’s first albums, but getting older the love for that kind of metal waned a bit. But just by listening to this music, may make me change my mind again. Whereas I personally find the latest releases by Metallica rather weak and unsurprising, this release by Flotsam And Jetsam, who are after all a band that started around the same period as Metallica, stands as a house. It starts with the opening song “Hypocrite” and ends almost 53 minutes later with “Secret Life”. It’s very hard to pick one single track that stands out from the rest, as they are all equally good, but my favourite probably is “Better Of Dead”, a track that starts out like a ballad, and is a slower track compared to the others, but this is a ballad with balls. This is an album that will end up with my 2011 favourites. 98/100 Erik Morren. |