The Gardnerz - The System of Nature

The Gardnerz spouts a Swedish brand of death/doom metal that makes the most of its melodious meandering within a slow-paced offering of well-crafted tunes that are fully sanctioned by the morose fan boy in us all.

While not as technically sound or diverse as fellow countrymen Opeth, The System of Nature squeezes out very last drop of solemnity from its saturated satchel of dark tunes. The vocals are the typical growling in the lowest of registers, but the mixing of throaty gasps and occasional breathy yells over music that defies conventional doom metal really makes the album. “Lady in the Grace” is a terrific song that has one hell of a main riff that really sets a sorrowed tone through the entire song. The vocal keeps drawing me back by switching from a somewhat black metal feel to a textbook death metal moan, which is perfect for this very moody album. I can’t even call this straight-forward doom metal because its position jumps from time to time. “Your Final Solution” actually reminds me of Slayer slowed to a virtual crawl, and that alone makes for an interesting blueprint.

I like the crawling-through-barbed-wire feel in these tracks as it seems to really carry the band over the anticipated pigeon-hole many bands of the genre fall into by either lump comparison or personal influences. Very rarely does a band ‘get into’ this style for hope of financial windfalls or delusions of grandeur; it’s a labor of love all over and The Gardnerz seem to be very good at what they’re currently doing because they believe in the music whole-heartedly. I usually steer clear of the lower registered vocals simply because I enjoy hearing the words enunciated at all points, but Niclas Ankarbranth manages to encompass both discernable vocals and a death metal attack that finds the perfect medium and passes the muster.

It’s a good thing to see Sweden on the map for some music of this style; the black metal exporting has to be tiring for that country by now! One listen to “Shift in Thought” and the odd vocal in it makes you realize that The Gardnerz may not be perfect, but they are most definitely interesting and warrant inclusion in your thought banks. I don’t think you’d be disappointed by expected the expected, yet reveling in the surprises and subtle nuances that set The System of Nature apart from the mundane or generic bands regurgitating the same thing.       

Release Date: 2010
Label: Abyss Records

TRACK LISTING

1.  The Art of Suffering
2.  Lady in the Grace
3.  Your Final Solution
4.  Born to Consume
5.  Incident
6.  Shift in Thought
7.  Flaw in the Axiom
8.  More or Less
9.  Confusion
10.  Maybe it's Time
11.  Bloody Vengeance
       (Vulcano cover)
12.  Servants of the Warsmen
       (Winter cover)

Total playing time:  51:21

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*Comments:

Reviewer: Chris

February 18, 2011