Review of - Album Review "Constructing The Destructive"
Watch out Thrashers, because there is a new powerful force in Thrash town and
they are aiming for the kill. Armed with influences of Testament ,
Megadeth, Metallica , early Pantera and Slayer , Final Curse are the
future and the new best thing in American Thrash Metal – and that is
guaranteed in their debut album, Constructing The Destructive and that’s 100% Thrash Metal – No Bullshit.
Formed in Charlotte, North Carolina in 2006, the band’s obvious plan is to
take the Thrash Metal genre back to its golden days of the 80’s and
early 90’s – their plan succeeded by mixing various Thrash elements
like NWOBHM , Heavy Metal a'la Black Sabbath and portions of classic
Death Metal. In 2007 they made their first statement with an EP called,
Cursing The Deceivers. In 2008, with the direction of Rob Tavaglione at Catalyst Recording, they made their debut release, Constructing The Destructive, that gave them the option, which they took, to sign with Dark Harvest Records.
Under Tavaglione’s production skill, the production turned out to be an
amazing one, which gave this release a really “old time” feeling to it.
The sound is brutal and dark that very much resembles Slayer’s era
between South Of Heaven and Divine Intervention,
however here Final Curse stepped on the gas paddle. In that period,
which the band chose to focus on their music, was where the Thrash
Metal band had made some major classics recordings. Moreover, the
guitars sound exactly like Slayer’s glory days , drums included which
sound just like in Divine Intervention. You can say that the aura around this release is more Slayer-ish than any other Classic Thrash Metal band.
Final Curse’s material is charging, brutal and especially angry with
everyone. Mike Plowman, vocalist and guitarist and Madison Stegall ,
backing vocals and guitarist, as the music / lyrics writers, made sure
that this release would be as angry and aggressive as hell. The music
crafted by these guys is well constructed and shows a great achievement
on making it complex and interesting.
Although the songs are not major hits, and certainly are not that catchy, the
musical complexity make them a great listen. Just like the gods of
Thrash Metal , Final curse took exactly those as examples to make their
music as good as it turned out to be. There are many tracks here that
sound like Slayer, mostly because of their linkage to Black Sabbath
that with the addition of aggressive riffs and maniacal solos make them
brutal and bestial.
Awesome tracks like “Alone In Death” , “Hottest Seat In Hell” and “Unveil The
Eyes” are the second best thing close to Slayer. Also the latter has
that Sabbath tri-tone rhythm which even more so makes it a classic and
near its end has the Slayer-ish riff that resembles the “Behind A
Crooked Cross” mind-blower. Other tracks in this cracker are more a
mixture of Testament , Pantera , Metallica and Megadeth, most of them
are as great as the Slayer-ish ones. “Who Am I?” and “Never Gone” are
great Metallica influenced songs that gives the feeling of “And Justice
For All” but much more complex with Testament riffs and solos a'la Alex
Skolnick. “Slie” and “Secret Confession” are two aggressive Pantera
meets Testament attackers that shows the true form of early Thrash.
Now let’s give a small closure to the boys that made this album as true as
it should be for a Thrash group. Mike “Plowmania” Plowman is a great
Thrash singer who lets out his anger with great vocalist skill that
resembles a combination of many Thrash figures around the late 80’s.
Madison Stegall along with Plowman shows great musicianship regarding
the guitar work. These two produce some crashing riffs , melodic lead
riffs and amazing solo parts. “Stevo” Moore, the bass player, gives the
formers great back up with good bass skill and Brendon Blackwelder,
sadly the ex-drummer, made himself a good Lombardo / Bostaph
Final Curse are what all Thrash Metal bands should aim for. The young new
Thrashers of today should recognize the ingredients to make good pure
Thrash that will be praised with blood in the mosh pits zones. The
Metal world should take care of these guys cause their efforts are
gold.
Posted at www.metalexpressradio.com
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Review of - Constructing the Destructive
MetalBite Review by JD on 8/8/2009
Thrash Metal is coming back in a big way at the moment, and I for one applaud that because that was the type that got me into metal in the first place. Whether you do it straight out old school or give it the twist and crank it out like the new Thrash acts that are doing it right now. With that said, here is Final Curse who have thrown their hat into the thrash ring, to signify that they are vying for ultimate supremacy.
Like an old classic muscle car that has a huge bore...high performance engine in it, this band hits the gas and shoots down the blacktop at break-neck speed. Final Curse is just like that damned car as it is out to blow your doors off.... old school thrash has never sounded so damned good. Taking their props from the likes of Exodus, old Anthrax, Tank and even real old school Testament...FC seems to have come up with something that sounds really new and fresh while keeping the core feeling of thrash the way it is.
The only fault I have with the whole album is with the recording itself at times. It seems that the way it has been recorded is somewhat lacking in many spots throughout, and muddies the bands attack to some degree... but even these little speedbump are thankfully very few and far between and ends up never takes away what these young thrashers are trying to deliver.
Most of the songs on this album are just flat out very good and solid songs, but I would have to say that both ‘Brother’s Knife’ and the head hammering ‘The Inferno’ show that you can have a stadium filing anthem and never be wimpy either. You do want to sing along, while banging your head in joy (got a neck-brace anyone?).
Clearly Final Curse can put out incredible songs while still trying to sonically lobotomize you at the same time. The band is more than pretty good right now... cant wait to see when they mature a little musically. So if you don’t know what I am saying.. Final Curse are poised on the verge of metal top rung to take their spot of honour... the next album should see them doing just that.
Categorical Rating Breakdown
Musicianship: 8.5
Atmosphere: 8.5
Production: 7
Originality: 8
Overall: 8.5
Rating: 8.1 out of 10
Posted at Metal Bite
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