June 8, 2010

Reviewer: Chris

Rise from Ruins is the premiere release from Posthuman, a melodic death set from the Netherlands. For melodic death the band is competent, able to create some solid metal music, but the vocalist, while somewhat tolerable, just tends to ruin the mood with a clean tone that simply doesn’t fit the music. The third track “[2108 pt.1] World in Flames” fares a little better vocally, relying on the harsh vocal to build the general feel and energy of the music, but the music takes center stage with some nice guitar work that changes up to a perfect point. If some apocalyptic feel was the intended vision it works well.

To be honest, the main problem I have is the vocals, which do little for me in either resonance or style. They just seem to be caustic mutterings, yet when the clean tone kicks in it just doesn’t seem to find the right fit. Some people dig this vocal style and that’s fine, but I really like the music as opposed to, or in spite of the vocals. This should never ruin an album for anyone, but I know people that can’t get past Geddy Lee’s vocals and enjoy Rush, so everyone has a unique personal affinity for music enjoyment. As always, it’s subjective. 

The music on Rise from Ruins is really some good melodic death, completely burying the American mallcore raping with a lesson in how it really should be done. Mark Sloot is a solid guitarist with some damn heavy riffs, often providing a faster-than-hell soundtrack in songs like “Into the Void.” I like Sloot’s crunching sound alongside some severely brutal riffing as evident in “The Meaning of Death.” If not for those damn vocals this song would be top-notch, but blocking them out worked for me! The keyboards also seemed a bit unnecessary to me, but they must have felt them working in the studio. In an otherwise interesting song like “The Great Revolt” I simply don’t get the programmed sound, but….

I have to admit the lyrics aren’t exactly a challenge to the psyche, especially evident in the track “End of My Trail” which details the death of one’s girlfriend at the hands of another guy with whom she was cheating, thereby leading to a car wreck with the two of them and hurt feelings of loss and anger for the speaker. I am a full proponent of realism and the occasional drifting away from the abstractness of some lyrics, and as long as they’re written with some thought and effort it’s a go. For my tastes, the lyrics border on the immaturity of a garage band rifling through its notebooks for something provocative and alluring which falls flat here. For a band with much potential the lyrics could really use a reworking.

Al in all Rise from Ruins isn’t a bad album per se, but I would certainly like to see this band with some subtle changes in the future. From the amateurish lyrical effort to the non-entity vocal presence it simply doesn’t hold up as well as an album with such fine guitar riffing should. If some good guitar work is your forte, then by all means block out the bad and have at it.

Release Date: June 10, 2010
Label: Band Self Released

TRACK LISTING

1.  Intro
2.  A Planet's Lament
3.  [2108 pt. 1] World In Flames
4.  Darkest Lies
5.  End Of My Trail
6.  [2108 pt. 2] Truce
7.  The Meaning Of Death
8.  Into The Void
9.  [2108 pt. 3] The Great Revolt
10.  Ashes To Ashes

Total playing time:  44:00

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Posthuman - Rise from Ruins