What we got here is up-and-coming, modern-sounding Turkish band called Act, whose lyrics are politically infused. Turkey is a democracy, but has been ruled by tyrants, and many political clashes have happened in the country. Other absurd disputes have been caused by religions. What a surprise?

Anyway, let's get to the musical side of Act. The basis of it is post-thrash sound, which is driven by groove. This is not the worst "jump da fuck up" style I've heard, but actually quite far from that. So, Soulfly and Lamb Of God seem to be quite a big influence, and why not The Haunted to some extent. Some riffs are like dumbed down Nevermore stuff. Some of the songs contain a huge steam engine drive to them, e.g. the opener 'The Solution' (unstoppable kick drum work here), 'Trapped Nation' and 'Civil Clash'. There are also some curved tempo manoeuvres during many a song, giving the djent facet stamp to Act. Occasionally the music gets very close to death metal territories (e.g. the opener and 'It Makes You Right'), and the likes of Illdisposed are the close examples of this side of Act. 'Fratricidal Quarrel' sounds partly like Tool, but does not fully steer away from the aggressive elements.

The rhythm guitar sound is low-tuned and blunt, and nothing like thrashy at all. It's too metalcorey for my liking but thankfully the lead guitar sound is different. It can be cold and industrial, but also warm and compassionate. Some discordant and open-stringed stuff can be heard, too, suitable with the atmosphere of the lyrics. Non-distorted and acoustic guitars are nicely used as spicing, as well as metallic guitar solos. By the way, two instrumental songs offer good show of the instrumentalists, and are actually very good songs and include some great melodiousness. That takes us to the vocals, that are rather one-dimensional throaty and brute growling, but do their job. Points for the rhythm duo's enliven performances.

The production is modern with triggered drums. Every hit is of same level of power... I think this is pretty much a self-production. It's well done for sure, but there are glitches in songwriting department: Some songs and parts in most of the songs are catchy and good, but then there are opposite bits, too. It feels too much like "hey look, we are alive", but the band haven't been able to bring forward their own true character here. Maybe next time around. However, I find 'World's a Stage' as a surprisingly tasty piece of metalcorey stuff, and mind you, I hardly enjoy listening to this kind of stuff. If you enjoy such things, then you presumably should check Act out.

Rating: 6½ (out of 10) ratings explained

Reviewed by Lane
10/23/2013 18:16