Artist: One Man Army And The Undead Quartet
Title: The Dark Epic
Genre: Death / Thrash Metal
Release Date: 25th February 2011
Label: Massacre Records
Album Review
ONE MAN ARMY AND THE UNDEAD QUARTET (OMA) is not only known for having one of the longest band titles, but also as the secondary brainchild of growlster Johan Lindstrand. Formed from the ashes of his former band, THE CROWN, in 2004, OMA picked up whether Lindstrand and Co. left off: death metal chunkiness with thrash inspired melodies and solos. The debut by these guys was an excellent thrash based piece, but lacked the melodic death metal elements that THE CROWN had so tightly knit together. For the next several years OMA released album after album trying to get things right, but they just couldn’t hit the target. Now, finally, after waiting two years to get things together rather than rushing to finish things in a one year span, OMA releases their fourth album, ‘Dark Epic’, and finally puts everything in perspective.
Oddly enough, those who have heard the CROWN’S latest album will see a very similar style. No, the bands aren’t swapping riffs and formulas, but usually when leading members go off to form other projects they tend to sound a lot like original (MISERATION and SCARY SYMMETRY or PASSENGER and IN FLAMES). OMA tend to balance the death and thrash a little bit better than CROWN, especially when it comes to Lindstrand’s vocals which are a mid paced snarl that resembles that of a band like DAATH. Musically, tracks like ‘Stitch’ are a great example of the chugging crushing power of death metal while ‘Inside The Head Of God’ is more thrash based as there is more singly guitar work than everything cohesively coming together to bash the listener’s ear hole. ‘Devil’s Harlot’ features an excellent solo work between Mattias Bolander and Jonas Blom. Sadly, Robert Axelson’s bass gets lost in the mix a lot. Marek Dobrowolski drums to his heart’s content and really hammers out the proper poundings without sounding like a total blur behind the kit. Track lengths have also been expanded a bit to bring for a sense of “epicness” to the music. ‘The Dark Epic’ clocks past eight minutes, leaving listeners with a whole new experience in how OMA can sustain themselves over an entire song without being boring or repetitive.
One thing that OMA unfortunately does is tend to keep their themes of Satanism, hatred, and death / un-death at a simple level. Tracks like ‘The Pleasures Of Slavery’ and ‘How I Love To Kill You’ seem juvenile compared to some of their earlier works titles such as ‘Mary’s Raising The Dead’. At the same time most is a vast improvement from their previous album, such as with ‘The Zombie Syndrome (Of Acid And Man)’. The lyrical quality is basically the same, but OMA keep doing what they do best, so why should they reinvent their engine? Fans who are used to them by now will love how they got their sound together properly with everything balanced and new fans will also find this engaging if they like melodic death thrash along the lines of DEVIAN, DAATH, or even AT THE GATES.
Tracklist
01. Stitch (4:47)
02. The Zombie Syndrome (Of Acid & Man) (4:03)
03. Inside The Head Of God (5:51)
04. Sandman Apocalypse (7:43)
05. The Pleasures Of Slavery (4:53)
06. Skeletons Of Rose Hall (5:59)
07. Devil's Harlot (4:04)
08. Dark Epic (8:48)
09. How I Love To Kill You (2:12)
Line-up
Johan Lindstrand - Vocals
Mattias Bolander - Guitar
Jonas Blom - Guitar
Robert Axelsson - Bass
Marek Dobrowolski - Drum
Website
http://www.onemanarmyband.com/
Cover Picture
Rating
Music: 8
Sound: 8
Total: 8 / 10
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