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Artist: VOLKMAR
Album: Wrath Of Centuries
Year: 2009
One of those bands who managed to achieve quite a lot within short time is definitely Volkmar from Australia. Their first five track demo 'Overture Macabre' resulted already in a full tour through South-America and the United States, as well an exclusive Dutch performance - the full-lenght 'Blessed Sin' got them a spot on the wellknown WGT festival, as well shows in Chile, France and The Netherlands. The catchy mix of wave and industrial metal is beeing continued on the first release for Das Ich's Danse Macabre records: Wrath Of Centuries contains 12 tracks and a bonus video for the opening one.
The release kicks off with the haunting wave track 'Centuries'. It's build on a bashing programming and repetative synth- and basslines, while beeing decorated with recogniseable vocal lines and welladded guitar riffing. 'A Song For A Tyrant' is a gentle electro metal track, including nicely sailing couplets and an uptempo chorus. It's accessibility lays in the recogniseable vocal lines, that are blessed with a sing-a-long attitude on the chorus despite the uptempo attitude of it. 'Cease To Be' is blessed with a more metal attitude, without the loss of the band's wave approach. It consists of heavy riffing, recogniseable keylines and diverse programming, all blended together by the excellent clean vocal lines. 'Forgotten Ones' is an atmospheric wave track, with almost synchronized guitar- and vocal lines during the couplets and bashing programming all over. The song overall is pretty danceable, and contains variation within the couplet, pre-chorus and chorus. 'Red 75' is a more experimental track, with pitched vocal lines in the beginning and a synth pop approach of keylines within the chorus. Overall the song is pretty catchy, but in a way it sounds like it's building up to an outburst that is not coming. 'Eclipse Of The Faithless' is a decent downtempo track, with a wave song structure and electro metal influences. Definitely a track for the old schoolers among us. 'Temples In Eternity' blends the forces of electro metal and wave together into an accessable midtempo track build on haunting keylines, an essential bassline and wicked varied programming works. The vocal lines are as recogniseable as accessable, giving the track a certain boost. 'Folklore Enemy Mantra' is a pure wave track, build on recogniseable programming and a wicked bassline and blessed with welladded keys and guitars. 'In Obscurity' is a bit more experimental again, with heavy bashing programming, old school riffing and industrialized keylines and samples. 'Ethos Catacombs' is another old school influenced track, with midtempo programming and strong riffing and keylines. On the intermezzo, it almost look like the synthlines and the vocal lines are synchronized, just before the little solo kicks in. 'Prosa der Grausamkeit' is a strong wave track, with sing-a-long vocal lines and very gentle programming. We're also able to find small touches of bombastic elements and folk (in the beginning of the track) within the song. The release ends with 'The Battalion'. It's a softly downtempo wave track, blessed with a dark atmosphere and welladded powerful riffing.
Compared to 'Blessed Sin', Volkmar has lost some of its sharp metal edges. In return for this, the wave elements are more elaborated and mature sounding, as well we find more variation in the programming which became an essential part of this album. The clean vocals are here and there flirting with spoken word attitudes, while the riffing is a bit more experimental and straight to the point.
Consider Volkmar as a more than good alternative for bands such as The Sisters of Mercy, Killing Joke and even Rammstein - with the exception that Volkmar doesn't get extremely boring after listening to it for more than three hours... and yes, I'm talking from out of my own experiences.
Vote: 95 / 100
Review by: Gerardo
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1. Centuries
2. A Song For A Tyrant
3. Cease To Be
4. Forgotten Ones
5. Red 75
6. Eclipse Of The Faithless
7. Temples In Eternity
8. Folklore Enemy Mantra
9. In Obscurity
10. Ethos Catacombs
11. Prosa der Grausamkeit
12. The Battalion
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