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Artist: DEADCELL
Album: State of Fear
Year: 2008
"With a debut like this, it only seems a matter of time
before any label will pick DeadCell up". This was my
prediction after the review of DeadCell's debut album 'The
Massacre'. Now I must admit that many of my predictions
never became reality, but we have an exception here.
Some small information first - DeadCell is an industrial
metal project hailing from Eindhoven, The Netherlands.
Main man of this project is Marcus Bodine, the founder
and creator of the tunes. During live shows Bodine
collaborates with 2 VJ's, projecting a battery of
animations and live video footage. Female Acid Belly
dancers, Cheerleaders, Goth models and Flamenco dancers
add a revolutionary theatrical element to their show.
Their debut album 'The Massacre' wasn't only recieved
very well by me, but also by other press and public.
DeadCell already played live on well-respected places
such as Summer Darkness, Gothoord, Heaven & Hell and
even did a major festival in Switzerland. The record
label Urgence Disk, home of Bak XIII, Dolls of Pain and
many more, picked DeadCell up and will release
DeadCell's second album 'State of Fear' on Dutch Queen's
day - April 30th.
The release opens with 'War of Choice'. It has a one and
a half minute intro that gets followed by a straight
forward industrial metal track, with marching beats and
a strong guitarline. The vocal lines are recogniseable
and accessable, and there is wicked sampling all over
the track. 'Save One Bullet' is a track of a more
different kind. It is build on a spine of gentle and
very dark electronic sampling, and the guitars are more
used to underline this than to add power to the track.
Furthermore the song includes wicked and atmospheric
violin works, and very dark vocal lines. What follows is
an uptempo song, called 'Lies'. It opens a very powerful
way, and switches without any problems to more quiet and
electronic based couplets. The uptempo programming stays
in tact in the whole track, which gives it (besides the
powerful guitars) a danceable attitude. The keylines in
the little intermezzo are wellplaced, and gives the
track a little more freshness. 'Kill The President' has
bashing programming works, strong dark electronic works
and distorted guitars. The (clean) vocal lines give the
track something accessable, and even a little bit catchy.
'Palestine' is a track that is built with an old school
touch. It contains elements of synth pop, gothic rock
and industrial - all mixed together in an easy listening
tune. 'Waiting For The Day' is in my opinion the most
experimental track on the album. It switches from
industrial metal guitars to black metal influenced
guitars, and from future pop synthlines to powerful
metal parts. Despite these influences, the song never
leaves the midtempo attitude, and is mostly atmospheric
and heavy. 'State of Fear' is a surprisingly powerful
and uptempo track, that sounds like twenty buffalos are
coming your way. It consists of strong and heavy
guitarworks, bashing programming and cold atmospheric
keylines that are well added within the song (specially
in the outro!). 'Million Men March' is already the final
track on the album. It's a more sensitive track, nearly
a ballad, with wicked and atmospheric guitarlines, vocal
lines that are full of despair, and very gentle
programming and FX.
Lyrically, DeadCell isn't one of those bands who have
nothing to say. Already proven on their debut release
with songs like 'God Is American' and 'Radio Silence',
now it's confirmed again with songs like 'Kill The
President', 'Palestine' and 'Lies'. DeadCell switches
from political statements to (anti-)religious opinions,
and each time the power or the atmosphere of the lyric
fits with the power or the atmosphere of the song.
Compared with the preverious release 'The Massacre', we
can clearly see some improvements. Where on 'The
Massacre' it was most of all power that was ruling,
'State of Fear' shows a better balance between power and
atmosphere. The fact that my two favorite tracks on this
release, 'Save One Bullet' and 'Kill The President', are
each tracks of a different kind underlines this
statement a little more. My feeling is that this release
is more accessable to a wider audience because of this
fact. Next to fans of Ministry and Rammstein, also fans
of stuff like Samael, Deathstars and even Killing Joke
will be more encouraged to give this a try. Another
(little) improvement is the production. The production
on 'The Massacre' was already good, but it's even
slightly better on the 'State Of Fear' release, which is
certainly hearable at the more quiet and electronic
parts.
After the high score of 'The Massacre', 'State of Fear'
is not only a consolidation of that high rating, but
even a raise. DeadCell might not be new and
ground-breaking stuff, but they're damn good at what
they are doing. My advice: go and get this album right
away - and go to see them live as well (their live shows
are real experiences!). DeadCell shows that it is ready
to conquer the world, so better get ready now!
Vote: 98 / 100
Review by: Gerardo |
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01. War Of Choice
02. Save One Bullet
03. Lies
04. Kill The President
05. Palestine
06. Waiting For The Day
07. State Of Fear
08. Million Men March |
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