CLICK ON THE LINKS ON THE RIGHT TO BE TAKEN STRAIGHT TO THE REVIEW YOU WANT.
REVIEW FROM
WWW.HEAVYMETAL.NO,
by YNGVE M. JACOBSEN
FOR ENGLISH VERSION (TRANSLATED BY #44),
CLICK HERE
54 - PHI
Private (våren 2006)
54 har jeg vært spent på i lang tid, og nå er demoen her!
Tittelen på demoen, Phi, og bandnavnet (54) drar det hele mot en mattematisk
affære. Og det er vel ikke noe stort sjokk at det er nettopp tall og
kombinasjoner som opptar gjengen i 54.
Jeg har et informativt intervju liggende på hold som kommer snart, der oppklarer
de alt og man får innblikk i hva det dreier seg om.
Fokuset nå er uansett Phi; hvor man får en firkløver av låter som er varierte og
teknisk utfordrende å lytte på. Spesielt vokalen er med på å føre an en bra
balanse som gjør at det aldri blir kjedelig. En brutal deathmetalversjon, en
extrem variant, kvinneinnslag, en kanonfet hviskende stemme (sjekk første låt) -
man kombinerer disse konstant, så hver låt har mange innslag av stemmebruk. For
noen kan muligens dette være et aber, men åpent sinn folkens, åpent sinn.
Lyden er veldig bra, men for meg litt klinisk. Men det kler musikken så det er
bare subjektive nykker. :)
I tredje spor, Rule #1, er det også hint av en groovy moderne gitarriffing, her
er vokalen litt Voivody uten at herrene fra Kanada ellers er å spore. Men; det å
eksperimentere, tenke selv, se forbi musikk som er på markedet når man skal
inspireres er jo alle faktorer som var sterke hos Voivod. Så man kan si at på et
plan deler de noe.
Zero var også litt moderne, her fikk vi en rå og brutal deathvokal, men ikke
guttural - heldigvis. Riff og rtymer på denne og forsåvidt på alt her, minner
lite om noe annet. Det tetner til tidvis, da får jeg litt vibb av de
"intelligente" deathmetalband som virkelig gikk for gull i produksjon og ikke
prøvde å låte oldschooll med vilje. Death er et band som dukker opp en del
underveis.
Summert er det en variert utgivelse, muligens i overkant for noen. Jeg har vokst
opp med teknisk thrash og extremmetal, så for meg var det mye som falt i smak.
Arrangeringen var litt for mye dog, jeg klarte ikke å finne en helhet.
Sjekk Chrysalis i linkene under, og hold linja åpen, kvinnevokalen som kommer
krydrer veldig bra.
Man bør få deal på dette.
7/10
Tracklist:
1. Fractal
2. Chrysalis
3. Rule #1
4. Zero
54 online...
54 – Phi
Private (Spring, 2006)
I’ve been waiting for 54 for a while, and now the demo is here!
The title of the demo, Phi, and the band name (54) pulls it all towards a
mathematical side. And I suppose it doesn’t come as a shock that numbers and
combinations are what they are all about.
I have an informative interview on hold, wherein they explain everything and you
get a peak into what this actually contains.
The focus now is on Phi, however, where you have four songs, all varied,
technical and challenging the listener. Especially the vocal takes the lead to
create a good balance and keeps it from becoming boring: A Brutal death metal
variety, one extreme variety, some female and a kick ass whispering (check out
the first song) – they combine these constantly, so every song has a range of
voices. To some this can be a chore, but have an open mind, people. An open
mind!
The sound is very good, but to me a bit clinical. This do back up the music
however, so this is merely subjective meanings :)
In the third track, Rule #1, there is also a hint of groovy, modern riffing,
here the vocal is a bit Voivody but beyond that nothing is traceable from the
gentlemen from Canada. But; to experiment, think for one self and search beyond
the music in the market when looking for inspiration are all factors that were
strong in Voivod. So you can say that on some levels they share something.
Zero was also quite modern. Here we are served a raw and brutal death metal
vocal, but not guttural – luckily. Riff and rhythms, not to mention everything
else, reminds of something else. It tightens at a few points and I sense a touch
of the “intelligent” death metal bands that went all in on production and didn’t
try to sound old school on purpose. Death is a band that pops up now and again.
Alltogether this is a varied production, possibly too much for some. I grew up
with technical trash and extreme metal, so to me this works well. The
arrangement was a bit too much, however, and I couldn’t find a totality.
Check out “Chrysalis” in the link beneath and keep the line open. The female
vocal that comes in spices it up very well.
One should get a deal on this.
7/10
Tracklist:
1. Fractal
2. Chrysalis
3. Rule #1
4. Zero
54 online...
Review by CASSIE OF Spirit of the Underground webzine
review
- 54 "PHI" (demo)
"PHI" (demo)
Self Released
© 2006 54 - "PHI" (demo)
01. Fractal
02. Chrysalis
03. Rule #1
04. Zero
8 (out of 10)
"bringing math and metal together"
"This foursome from Oslo, Norway put a bit of a spin on their sound, creating
music “based on mathematical conceptions of harmony and chaos theory”. These
conceptions especially stand out in the complex, yet straightforward structures
of the opening track, “Fractal”, and “Rule #1” as rhythms and vocal stylings
shift frequently. These two are also the strongest tracks on the demo, due to
the solid growled/shredded vocals of No. 44 (as each member has a number for a
name). The clean male-female vocal switchoff featured in “Chrysalis” is a nice
try at goth-metal, but comes off sounding watered-down and unconvincing.
However, in spite of the occasional weak spot, the overall demo leaves the
listener eager for more from these up-and-coming metal theorists"
-Cassie
Spirit of the Underground
Reviews
The views expressed in the above review are the views of Cassie and does not
necessarily represent the views of Spirit of the Underground.
© 2006
review by
metal wave
for an
english translation click
here
Che il metallo sia con voi!
I quattro che mi appresto a recensire sono di Oslo e hanno deciso di basare le
loro opere sui principi armonici matematici di pitagora e sulla teoria del
chaos, non a caso una canzone parla di farfalle e di cicloni. Il sito, molto
funzionale, spiega che i testi da loro composti sono costruiti su paradossi nei
quali tutto è importante e tutto è irrilevante, ogni cosa è in armonia, in lento
movimento e ogni essere è speciale, ma non unico. Attraverso questo principio,
le liriche si districano tra società, vita, il potenziale umano e l’ universo
come essere senziente. Tematiche di difficile comprensione, come anche la
colonna sonora che sta dietro a queste parole. Infatti ci vogliono diversi
ascolti per avere almeno un quadro più o meno chiaro del demo.
Holter e Roger (rispettivamente n°25 e n°86 credo) sono i fondatori di questo
singolare progetto, chitarra e batteria ai quali si aggiunge n°30 bassista e
n°44 voce.
Come muse ispiratrici e guide citano i Peccatum, Old Man’ s Child, Rotting
Crist, Sacralis e Asmegin, dei quali conosco poco o niente purtroppo e non posso
fare paragoni.
Comunque venendo al disco in questione, si presenta con un artwork austero, con
una copertina troppo essenziale forse.
La musica composta dal quartetto è ambigua, attraverso continui ascolti sono
passato ad amarli ed odiarli diverse volte. Il genere proposto è da loro
definito Norwegian Progressive Metal, io li ho trovati molto affini agli Opeth
in alcuni frangenti, qualche eco di Nevermore e qualche sprazzo di death metal
tecnico.
Il demo si apre con “Fractal” song potente e devastante, fa pensare ad uno
schiacciasassi che avanza inesorabile fino alla fine della canzone, che termina
alquanto bruscamente, ma resta la mia preferita.
“Chrysalis” comincia con un farfugliamento sussurrato quasi epilettico che mi ha
lasciato basito all’inizio, molto inquietante se ascoltato da solo di notte, in
seguito la song si districa in parti molto death alternate da parti cadenzate
d’effetto a mio parere.
“Rule n° 1” canzoni dalle tematiche forti quasi religiose, un riff dal sapore
metalcore permane per tutta la durata della canzone.
“Zero” completa il lotto del demo senza nulla di eccezionale.
Tecnicamente i ragazzi ci sanno fare, sembra che tutte le canzoni siano state
fatte apposta da sottofondo alla voce, e questo mi sembra strano visto che il
vocalist si è aggiunto per ultimo dando voce a canzoni già fatte. Purtroppo la
voce in alcuni casi (a parte i growl quelli vengono bene, e gli scream quasi
animali, una bella trovata originale) rimane sporca e sgradevole da ascoltare,
come se avesse un groppo in gole che non vuole sputare, ma comunque rimane il
tratto più originale della band con svariate sfumature tra le quali anche il
falsetto pulito!
Per quanto riguarda il songwriting il gruppo mi risulta poco fresco e originale
tranne la prima traccia, e non vedo neanche un assolo, peccato.
Infine posso dire che alcune idee sono buone nel totale, ma di caotico trovo ben
poco, forza è ora di sbattere sul serio le ali.
Fractal - 75
Chrysalis - 62
Rule n°1 - 58
Zero - 55
Giudizio ConfezioneQualità Audio: 68
Qualità Artwork: 58
Originalità: 60
Tecnica: 70
Giudizio Finale
63
Metal is with you! The fours
I'm going to review are from Oslo and
they decided to base their works about harmonic mathematic Pitagora's
principles and on chaos theory, that's why a song talks about butterflies
and twisters. The website, very well organised, explains that lyrics,
composed by them, are built on paradoxes in which everything is important
and everything is insignificant, everything is in harmony, in slow
movement and everyone is special, but not unique. Through this principle
all the songs extricate themselves from society, life, human potential
and the whole universe as thinking being. All these are subjects of
difficult comprehension, as even soundtrack there's behind these words.
In fact you need lots of listening to have a clear idea of the demo.
Holter and Roger (respectively n°25 and n°86 I believe) are the guitar
and drum founders of this singular project, followed by n°30 bass guitar
and n°44 voice.
As inspiration and orientation they quote Peccatum, Old Man's Child,
Rotting Crist, Sacralis and Asmegin, but I don't know anything about
them, so I can't do any comparison with.
Anyway, coming back to the album we were talking about, my first
impression is of an austere artwork with a too much minimal cover. Music
they composed is ambiguous, every time I listened to I was for loving and
hating it, loving and hating, loving and hating. Music genre they are
proposing is Norwegian Progressive Metal, as they said, I found them very
similar to Opeth in some aspects, with some Nevermore echoes and some
technique death metal spot.
Demo disc opens with "Fractal", powerful song.seems to be a steam-roller
inexorably advancing until the end of the song that sudden end, but this
song is definitively my favourite. "Chrysalis" starts with an epileptic
whispering that let me very surprised since the beginning, very
disturbing if listen to alone in the dark. Then this song extricates
itself in death-style parts and soft effect-style parts in my opinion.
"Rule n°1" is a strong subjects song.almost religious, and a metalcore
riff continues to be for the whole running. "Zero" ends the demo without
anything special.
The band is technically good, all the songs look like they were built for
the singer voice, and I'm really very surprised about that, just because
the vocalist joined the band for last, giving his voice to already
composed songs. Except for growls, they are ok, and screams animal-style,
they are definitively a good idea, unfortunately the voice is sometimes
dirty and disagreeable to hear, as if the singer had a lump in his throat
without will of spitting it.anyway it is the most original peculiarity of
the band together with others, first of all the clean fake voice! (a
particular way to sing using a non-natural voice).
About the songwriting the band is not fresh and original enough except
for the first track, but I don't see any solo playing, and it's a pity.
Finally, I can say some ideas are good in the whole work, but there's a
too small part of chaotic work so, c'mon, it's time to flap seriously
your wings
Fractal - 75
Chrysalis - 62
Rule n°1 - 58
Zero - 55
all over: 63