Artist: Combichrist
Title: One Fire
Genre: Industrial / Aggrotech / Metal
Release Date: 7th June 2019
Label: Out Of Line Music
Album Review
The short, threatening intro of the new album, including sounds that seem like police car sirens, is directly leading to ‘Hate Like Me’. A signature COMBICHRIST song, combining all the elements - aggressive vocals & growls, a very engaging melody, dark and brutal. Everything you need to make a COMBICHRIST hit. “You used to hate like me” is a line that just crawls in you head and makes you sing along immediately. Well done, Mr. LaPlegua. The change of vocal performance to the end makes an exciting break and forces the listener to hear more carefully.
‘Broken United’ comes more like a Metalcore song, less melodic, more pushing and dominated by growls and fast drum parts. In the last third of the song the song looses the Core for a moment and Andy’s vocals appear very melodic and almost vulnerable, also the pushing drums hide behind the almost literally soft melody for a few seconds. An interesting element. ‘Guns At Last Dawn’ reminds me kind of SYSTEM OF A DOWN 15 years ago. Really fast, aggressive and the fast parts change alternate with a bit slower ones. The drums are again really impressive, just to go into another very melodic part.
‘Lobotomy’ is quite a change and surprisingly we discover Synth sounds here. What a changeover. Industrial hits back here, still pushing, but comparing to the first songs quite melodic and I immediately see the dancefloors with strobo in front of my eyes being occupied by Alt & Goth people. Though the song is quite danceable, it’s also really chilled at the same time. Looking back on the discography of COMBICHRIST definitely one of the more relaxed and groovy songs. And here we go again, ‘One Fire’, let Andy scream at you and then feel his seductive and dark voice out here in the verse. Even before I knew what song is coming now - my first thought was - that is totally a soundtrack song. Well. Yes it is.
‘Bottle Of Pain’ is an oldie actually, seven years ago already it was released as soundtrack for ‘Underworld:Awakening’ and just now it is released on a regular longplayer. And the version reminds a lot of the unforgettable performance of the song at Gothic Meets Klassik with orchestra, I believe almost six years ago. Just for the sake of hearing COMBICHRIST once with an orchestra we were totally ready to go there. And while it is quite possible to imagine many classic Goth songs in the orchestral arrangement - imagining COMBICHRIST songs in this way was just impossible for us. And what we heard was quite impressive & a little weird, but awesome. It is great to hear the song in that version here.
‘2045’ is dominated by voice samples that are “interrupted” through Andy’s growls. A dark, gloomy track. ‘Interlude’ is a shorty of 1:10 and has all the Johnny Cash vibes! ‘Interlude’ gets back to - in my opinion - beautiful Industrial vibes, the melody is king here. And the chorus is quite catchy, too. The choice as a single single quite legit here. ‘California Uber Alles’ is an unexpected title actually that caught my attention right away. A little more psycho and I really enjoy the vocals and oh my, Andy’s accent in “Uber Alles” is… he doesn’t want to hear that for sure, but… cute? Like it.
‘Last Days Under The Sun’ - Industrial and raw vocals, kinda nice one, but I am not completely convinced yet. Will need some more rotations here, I guess. ‘The Other’ is closing the regular ‘One Fire’ release. Calm, gloomy and oppressive outro. As it is befitting for a COMBICHRIST release. Some Johnny Cash vibes back in here. Nice one. Broken souls and vulnerability. Over and done. To sum that up, not that kind of a mindblowing, ultra-innovative album, but really well done, emotional and balancing between the Metalcore and Industrial worlds.
Tracklist
01. Intro
02. Hate Like Me
03. Broken United
04. Guns At Last Dawn
05. Lobotomy
06. One Fire
07. Bottle Of Pain
08. 2045
09. Interlude
10. Understand
11. California Uber Alles
12. Last Days Under The Sun
13. The Other
Bonus CD
01. Hellblade OST Helheim
02. Hellblade OST Surt
03. Hellblade OST The Northmen
04. Hellblade OST River Of Knives
05. Hellblade OST Ray Of Hope
06. Hellblade OST Dillion
07. Hellblade OST Trials Of Odin
08. Hellblade OST Sea Of Corpses
Remix CD
01. Last Days Under The Sun (Fear Of Domination Remix)
02. One Fire (Rave The Reqviem Remix)
03. Guns At Last Dawn (Judgement Is Freedom Remix by Burton C. Bell of Fear Factory)
04. Last Days Under The Sun (Gigantor Remix)
05. Understand (Solar Fake Remix)
06. Hate Like Me (GrooVenom Remix)
07. One Fire (Flynt Flossy Remix)
08. Last Days Under The Sun (Gigantor Dub Remix)
Line-up
Andy LaPlegua - Vocals
Eric 13 - Guitar
Will Spod - Drums
Dane White - Drums
Website
https://www.facebook.com/combichrist/
Cover Picture
Rating
Music: 8
Sound: 8
Total: 8 / 10
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