How about another band who play modern, hard-biting metal and mix in some groove, plus some hardcore mentality? Would you be ready to dismiss that kind of an alloy right away? see, mixing these things together have led into countless horrible results, both with many good old bands as well as with modern newcomers, so that at least I have become pretty damn cautious about it.
Well, let's get into Intractable, who hail from Lucerne, Switzerland. They've been around since 2006, but their debut 'First Erruption' demo came out in 2010, and last December it was time for their debut album 'Inner Decay'. They do indeed mix above mentioned things together, but happen to be one of those nice surprises among all this nowadays' oversupply. The band themselves contacted me, and I wonder if I ever would have noticed and found them by myself. It's not easy to pitch a band out in the internet jungle, among thousand and thousands of sites. And sadly, sometimes gems are left undiscovered.
Intractable might not be the biggest gem, or even close to such, but are at least worth to be inspected if you are looking for some hard-hitting metal. Streetwise hardcore attitude is the thing what's heard first. However, it does not take long as sharp thrash lifts its ugly head. Then there is death metal in various forms from Gothenburg melodiousness to more brutal, hammering styles. Then, metalcore... Them bits are the ones I get bored with at times, but with their chameleon-like spirit, they never stick to one thing for a very long time. This way some of the songs are good compositions, some feel a bit too jumpy. Generally. the styles the band do are well presented and also click together without ending up sounding awkward. Believe me, it would take a very long review to explain every single bit found here. Intractable sound like a hybrid of European and US styles of thrash, metalcore and death metal. The album's duration is close to an hour, which is simply to long for this kind of music. I don't feel an urge to stop this spinning in the middle, but this definitely lacks of dynamics.
The energy the band breathes is strong. That energy is enraged by living in this cage known as the world. It really does grab a listener and do whatever one does when getting filled with such energy. Even though there is lots of groove in the music, it's performed tightly. Due to the organic nature of the production, this carries a live vibe. There's not much of studio trickery here. Still, guys handle their instruments more than well, and like the music, show many things and not just three kind of drum beats, for example. They go from simplistic bits to more technical ones. The rhythm guitar during metalcore parts lacks true aggressiveness, otherwise it's suitably punchy. The leads are ripping, bringing in that old school spirit. The bass guitar does its job as it should. The drums sound simply great compared to all plastic productions values of today. The drummer does play his kit, not just bang it, and it crowns the drumming department.
Bellowing, raspy, manly and steamed vocals suit well with the music, but are rather monotonous. Some spoken passages are heard. Suitably, the lyrical content is thoroughly sociocritical. Of course governments, churches, mental disorders and rich people get dirt kicked all over them, among others. The songs include quite a lot of words, and they aren't much repeated. They rather tell stories.
Intractable show a lot of potential here. No, more than that, actually. They have the ability to grab a listener's attention and bombard one with some good tunes. However, they are low on character. At least they have some of it, unlike the majority of new bands. This kind of hybrid metal would gather fans of many genres (I could name a lot of bands here, but Overkill, Pro-pain, Machine Head and Gorefest should be enough, for good or bad). What the heck, it's free to check this one out, and buy it if you want to support the band.
Rating: 7+ (out of 10) ratings explained
Reviewed by Lane
02/12/2013 11:45
