Communic - Waves of visual decay 5/5
Reviewed: 5-26-06
Tracklist:
1. Under a luminous sky
2. Frozen asleep in a park
3. Watching it all disappear
4. Fooled by the serpent
5. Waves of visual decay
6. My bleeding victim
7. At dewy prime
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Communic had already impressed me with their debut 'Conspiracy in mind' just over a year ago, but the band has released a monstrous 2nd CD 'Waves of visual decay' that will have fans the debut extremely excited and those who are unfamiliar with the band taking notice. Created just 3 years ago (2003) by the drummer (Tor Atle Anderson) and the vocalist/guitarist (Oddleif Stensland) of Scariot, the band was initially supposed to be a side-project, but both guys have now left Scariot and their focus remains on the possibly more popular (already) Communic. Bass player Erik Mortensen (who also has previous band experience) gives the band just 3 members. So although the band is new, they've had plenty of years to come up with their sound.
Communic is instantly comparable to the successful Nevermore, as Oddleif's voice is very similar to Warrel Dane's (although I prefer Oddleif) and also because the guitars are extremely powerful. But there are differences as well. Communic's music style is progressive heavy/power metal with some thrash thrown in, while Nevermore is much more in the power/thrash metal (with a hint of modern metal) direction with a bit more speed. Another difference is Communic's songs are a lot longer, with many time changes, a few acoustic passages, and Oddleif even throws in some occasional high-pitched vocals (a la Halford) to mix things up. But the biggest difference between Nevermore and Communic is, simply put, Communic's songs are so much catchier! Nevermore has proven they can write great songs, but they have yet to creat a masterpiece, a CD that is awesome from start to finish. Communic has done this with 'Waves of visual decay' and I've found myself totally drawn to their power.
I'm unable to pick favorite songs off 'Waves of visual decay', but I will mention that the groovy rhythm of track 2 "Frozen asleep in a park", along with the guitar solo in track 4 "Fooled by the serpent" and the thundering riffs at the beginning of track 6 "My bleeding victim" are exceptional! I also feel the CD has an emotional and intense finish, as "At dewy prime" always gives me the feeling of powerful metal in its purest form. This ending, combined with the many different/interesting twists and turns, makes for a CD that calls out for repeated and successive listens. This is the best of the year for me, slightly edging out Pyramaze's 'Legend of the bone carver', Katagory V's 'The rising anger' and Cloudscape's 'Crimson skies', but I'm not completely blown away (as 'Conspiracy in mind' was already a surprise and I expected great things with this CD) like with last year's "best of the year", which of course is Lanfear's 'Another golden rage'. This is a tremendous CD though that should appeal to anyone that likes their metal ultra heavy and there's no reason it shouldn't receive the perfect rating. Killer stuff!
CLINT
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