Reviews
2007-05-28
Besides their cool name, One Man Army And The Undead Quartet are mostly known for being the new band for ex-
The Crown vocalist Johan Lindstrand. The man is one of the most energetic and aggressive death metal vocalists, and his work with The Crown is a real classic in that genre. The band around Lindstrand are among the best extreme metal players out there, fantastic rhythm section and two great guitarists who perform some excellent riffs and fine leads in what is this band's second full length release…And now the problem: They just don't fit.
The same problem I had with this band's debut release is back again, while the band's music might be described as heavy and quite fast melodic metal, the growled vocals take this into the same Death N' Roll direction the later The Crown albums took, and it doesn’t sit in well together.
They do have some brilliant music here, "Mine For The Taking" is probably one of the finest songs this band wrote, but the whole combination with Lindstrand's vocals sounds wrong; I kept on waiting for more melodic, hard rock vocals, and Lindstrand just bursts in like an elephant in a china shop and crashes all the melody in sight.
The guy was prefect for The Crown, his strong and aggressive delivery sat in great with their Death N' Roll and it's dirty and violent approach, but here, among the more calculated and melodic leanings of his players, he just sounds unrelated, and that's not good for the band.
There's also a cool cover of Alice Cooper's "He's Back (The Man Behind The Mask)", but I'm afraid it only shows again how badly the two elements in the group don’t mesh. Sorry, but I think a separation is in order…
Alon Miasnikov
