You. Are. Not. Ready.
I don’t even know where to begin here, my head
is still spinning from the…. abuse/onslaught/experience/listening
pleasure? Seattle WA based metal group HIMSA have
reunited with their original guitarist, Sammi Curr,
and have released an album which is more of an act
of aggression than album. Once again, here’s
a band who’s been around for nearly a decade
and this is the first I’m hearing of them. That’s
what happens when you live in Deadwood USA. All I
can say is God bless the internet.
But I digress. We were talking about HIMSA (who’s
name is a reversal of a Sanskrit word for peace and
harmony, thereby dubbing them the opposite of that.
Makes sense) and their 4th LP, which is also their
debut for Century Media.
These guys sound like nothing less than the second
coming of SLAYER. HIMSA is like a beast unleashed
with a singular goal, raging and ferocious, yet tightly
focused. The unbridled fury of death metal is fused
with the precision of thrash with the outcome being
some of the most intense metal I’ve heard in
some time. “Summon In Thunder” is old-school
all the way, harkening to the days when death metal
was an underground affair (no pun intended), where
integrity and skill mattered more than who had the
best corpse paint job. Some, it seems, have labeled
HIMSA metalcore, others might be tempted to call them
melodic-death metal, neither of those truly hit the
mark. The sonic barrage that HISMA creates predates
metalcore to my ears, having more in common with old
school death and thrash acts. But then if you really
think about it, wasn’t SLAYER essentially the
first metalcore band? (I know I know, quit your bellyaching,
it’s just a theory of mine). What stands “Summon
In Thunder” apart from both their melodic death
and traditional death metal contemporaries is the
levels of melody/aggression. Within this album there
is just enough melody to keep things flowing and moving
in an interesting manner, while the level of blistering
ferocity remains a constant. It’s a guttural,
bloody, mosh-pit of relentless sound, even if some
of the riffs would make Marty Friedman or Kirk Hammett
proud. Think SLAYER meets LATHORA with a dash of SENTENCED.
So yeah, I could go on and on, using words like “uncompromising,
fierce, unrelenting, and brutal” but we’ve
all heard those words before in reference to hundreds
of death metal acts. So don’t take my word for
it, get yourself a copy of “Summon In Thunder”
and let the metal do the talking. Or, more appropriately,
the unholy screaming.
Bottom Line: Do you like old school thrash? Death
metal? Pulling the wings off flies? Then it’s
damn near a sure bet you’ll be rabid over HIMSA’s
brand of sonic destruction.
Key Tracks: “Haunter”; “Giving
In To The Taking”; “Den of Infamy”;
“Unleash Carnage”
Reviewed by Farron Watson |
