2006-03-02
A traitor like Judas is probably best known for its extensive touring and harsh metalcore sound; they infuse brutal and melodic metalcore into fast moshing material, a good example for this is “From my cold dead hands”.
They debuted in 2002, with the MCD “Poems for a dead man” which grabbed the attention of many and marked the band as promising; it wasn’t long before a follower, “Too desperate to breathe in” (2003), came and got the band into touring mode.
A split album with German hardcore group
Under Siege, titled “Ten angry men”, was released in 2004, and the outcome was quite outstanding.
The members in ATLJ decided to really put some effort into “Nightmare Inc.” since they weren’t very pleased with the way their previous releases sounded and because they go bored and tired with playing the same material over and over.
Guitar feedback, dubbed drums and a sampled narrated voice open “Nightmare Inc.”; this “Intro” gets us ready for a blast, the bombast “Die without…” which leaves no place for error- it’s influenced from various metal genres (ranging from Thrash to Swedish death), has solid riffing and simple stripped down screams.
The metalcore pops up on “No more silence”, with typical guitar parts and a major plus – instead of emo vocals in the chorus, we have growls.
The next one is the title track, sounding close to
Soilwork via the overall tempo and tone and having the best drumwork so far.
I’d like to pause and reflect on Bjoern Decker’s voice- the dude can scream, honestly (try “The Swan” and you’ll understand), but I’m not too sure if he is fitting; I mean he has his range of non-understandable screams, it’s just a bit too harsh for the music they make, or am I missing the point?
“A good day to die” starts off great, and carries on with in the same manner, this is the best song here, where all the elements add up to a rabies infested song, including a little solo.
It’s too bad the same line doesn’t go on in “Memory Hall” and “To the bones”, both are ok, but how much of the same thing can a person take?
The light at the end of this tunnel seems to come in “You rip your guts out”; it starts off with a different, cleaner, guitar but goes back to familiar sounds.
The closing track, “On Freedom square”, features more interesting guitars, the riffs are slightly more dynamic.
Overall, this album suffers from shortage in variety- each song is individually good, but as an entire album it doesn’t cut it; it starts off with a good impression but leaves bad aftertaste. At least the cover looks good.
Ofer Vayner
