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Hypocrisy |
| By
Jonathan Mariante
Swedish black/death metal legends Hypocrisy celebrate their tenth
anniversary with the release of this album. When Hypocrisy began, they
were a straight-up black/death metal band, but as their career
progressed, they began to expand their musical horizons, venturing
into more melodic/progressive territory, but without abandoning their
roots. They continue to do so on "Catch 22". Fans need not fear
however, they are still very much a metal band, and very aggressive. In
fact, the first two songs, "Don't Judge Me" and "Destroyed" are very
aggressive, heavy, jackhammering tunes! The next one, "Edge Of
Madness",
is more melodic and slightly slower, where they use some keyboards (a
piano leads off the song) but it's still quite heavy. Sort of reminded
me of Ministry. Another thrasher is next with "A Public Puppet". The
next song, "Uncontrolled", ventures into more traditional-style heavy
metal territory, with a beginning that is somewhat similar to Judas
Priest's classic, "Electric Eye". This is followed by "Turn The Page",
in which, believe it or not, the band goes punk! It's a
high-speed slammer that sounds like Hypocrisy meets the Butthole
Surfers! Then comes "Hatred", a riff heavy rocker that also has a more
melodic touch, with some string arrangements used in the middle.
Next on tap is "Another Dead End (For Another Dead Man)", which is
another dead-on thrasher! After this comes "Seeds Of The Chosen One",
another more straightforward metal tune, and the album closes with "All
Turns Black", which is...Oh no, I don't believe this! A GRUNGE tune!?
What are these guys thinking? It's a slow, Pearl Jam-esque song with
shoe-staring lyrics. This really caught me off guard! Hypocrisy are
about the last band one would expect to do a song like this! I'm all
for
a band maturing and exploring musical territory that's different, but
that's going a bit too far! Maybe some joker slipped this on here for a
prank? I wonder what the fans will think? Well, anyway...except for
that last song, this album is a solid Hypocrisy effort. Fans should dig
it, but should also keep an open mind when listening, because the band
do some stuff here that's quite different from their normal fare. Some
of the songs took me by surprise, too! But they're still Hypocrisy!
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