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An enthusiastic, intense entry for it's style.-
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| Spearhead: Theomachia |
Black Metal, Death Metal
Agonia Records
May 10th, 2011
- Eschatos - 1:11
- The Lie of Progression 3:19
- Kshatriya - 3:12
- Perdition Tide - 3:39
- Polemos Pater Panton - 4:34
- Praesagium - 1:08
- Herald the Lightning - 5:00
- Prey to the Conqueror - 3:33
- Autocrator - 3:33
- To Slake the Thirst of Ages - 3:40
- Aftermath - 4:09
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| Review Information |
Release length: 36:54
Review posted on May 7th, 2011
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| | Overall Score: 8/10 |
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| Discography |
Discography covers all information available up to day of review and is updated if future albums are reviewed. |
| Full-Length(s): |
Deathless Steel Command (2005) • Decrowning the Irenarch (2007) • Theomachia (2011)
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| Demo(s): |
When the Pillars Fall (2006)
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| Review |
When it comes to bands int he Black/Death Metal style, it's growing harder and harder to find bands that don't sound like a carbon copy clone of Behemoth. Spearhead is another band in that specific genre, hailing from the United Kingdom, but this group seems to have a little more of a unique approach. While the style itself does have some various staple ideas most bands incorporate despite their influences, Spearhead does so without necessarily coming off as a group hijacking an entire album's worth of ideas from the leader of the group's more recent releases. But, does this mean Theomachia, the group's third album, is a breath of fresh air for the style?
The production of this recording is good given the style. Unlike many bands in the Black/Death field, the group doesn't bring a one hundred percent modern or polished sound to the recording. It's still a little raw, having a bit of a higher pitch that makes it a little hollow, but not enough that it would dramatically affect the music in a positive, or even a negative way. The guitars still have a strong bite, and the bass guitar is often prominant in the music, though perhaps not as loud as it should be when accompanying the guitars. This leads to a little less of a bite then it could have had of course. The drums seem to make up for it, and there's a good amount of variety to what is played, though most of the time it's just blistering blast beats accompanying the faster music. When it's slower, the drums do show a good deal of varying approaches and not just constant pounding at the snares and double bass kicks, and that's really what stands out more, though songs li9ke "Perdition Tide" that manage to alternate those blast beats with the slower varied approaches does allow for a very sinister sounding atmosphere from the drums alone that doesn't necessarily become overdone right away.
While the music here can, for the most part, come off sounding sinister with it's blistering pace, it also can become a little tiresome, and a little too obvious at points. "The Lie of Progression" features a number of passages in the song that are the typical marching guitars that are three strums of the guitar, followed by a brief moment of silence, and drums that are at a somewhat slower speed then what you feel should be established, which is rather common for this style. Aside that, there are plenty of passages that show a little more technicality and catchiness to the song, but then suddenly go into a faster paced chord that sounds more Death Metal and Grindcore influenced, such as from Napalm Death, while hammering away at the drums with no real pattern, and completely losing the catchy or groovey chords that will have the listener's head banging along. Sadly, this happens on practically every track, and while it isn't too bad, it just becomes repetitive as it even sometimes come with the aforementioned maching beat, or has rather obvious traits with established artists in this field, coming off furious, but gradually becoming stale and at times even overused.
In the end there's still a decent number of entertaining tracks. "Polemos Pater Panton" seems to focus more on having that Death Metal groove working for it throughout, and the band utilizes some audio samples that work, though at the end feel just a little too drawn out. These do manage to shake things up in the song though, making it more enjoyable to sit through. Of course this isn't the only track to use audio samples, as the interlude track "Praesagium" uses one too near the end. Aside that, "Perdition Tide" manages to have a decent amount of groove and intensity to it with aggressive blast beats and catchy bridges, all complimented by the harsher vocal approach used on this release that feels like stern shouting mixed with screaming, adding an extra unique touch to the recording. Those vocals also lend a much more powerful and energetic performance to "Autocrator", which sounds like a much stronger track because of it, having much more intensity and aggression to it then some of the other tracks on the release.
Theomachia isn't the most unique effort to come out of the Black/Death Metal scene, but it's unique enough to make a good impression in the Metal world. The tracks on here have a decent variation between the blistering blast beats and the catchy groovey Death Metal input, which helps the band to create their own path instead of following the leaders of the style. The faster elements can become a little boring after a while though, as the guitar work doesn't really do much other then play some slightly intricate Black Metal chords at faster speeds, or to suit the drumming's furious pace. The only track on here that really seems to prosper from that kind of performance is "Aftermath", which is a very dark and sinister song, completing void of the louder and more intense material that composed the rest of the album. It's a suiting closing track, and even though it feels a little awkward compared to the rest of the material, given how dark and evil the track comes off, the only real gripe that anyone can have will be the fact that Spearhead didn't focus on creating more songs for this release that sounded like that.
In the end, Theomachia is an enjoyable album for this style. It's a little different compared to many of today's trends for it, and for that it's worth checking out if you happen to be a fan of the style. Outside that, it's not the greatest album you'll find, and the jumping between Napalm Death-like blast beats with Black Metal chords and a heavily groove-based approach at all other times does become a bit tedious and robotic after a while. While it won't be the most memorable album in the style, it still has enough going on to make each track unique enough from one another, and presents a good amount of energy and intensity to keep the album from collecting dust in your collection after one or two plays from start to finish.
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Digital review copy of this release provided by:
Agonia Records.
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