Izegrim in a nutshell: Thrash meets death metal, both Swedish and European ways, ripping guitars, but good sense of melody too, and then these growled female vocals by a cute blonde, and all this done in modern way. Does that bring any bands to your mind? To mine it did, and raised the following question. Are Izegrim a Arch Enemy clone? No, they are not. That thing cleaned out of the way, it's much easier to dive into 'Code of Consequences', this Dutch band's third full length album.

I've known the band from their previous release, the 'Point of no Return' EP (2009). I thought it was somewhat Arch Enemy influenced. Okay, bassist/vocalist Marloes' nasty cat-growl instantly brings forth this fact. She sounds similar to Angela Gossow, in good and bad. I have never got into this style of vocals, even though I must raise my hat for letting it rip like hell. Beats all pig squealing voices, hehe.

About the music, then. Okay, I have to admit, that 'Victim of Honor' reminds of the aforementioned Swedes, even though it begins with heavy, meaty riffage not far from Bolt Thrower (the rhythm guitar tone here is kind of close to some BT releases). The song gets more airy, and when the rocking chorus is boomed out, the expectations towards the album raise radically. However, Izegrim's axe-wielders are far from Amott brothers' skilled yet soulful fretboard hustle, but cannot be called "bad" or such, far from it! With 'My Secret Society', the band steer towards heavier outlet, even though the song does carry some melodies. So, the band balance between riff-driven stuff (anything from death metal to thrash metal and some more rocking ones) and at times serve more melodious bits. The band can write good songs, but they end up being well-nigh unsurprising. And surely get close to Arch Enemy's style at times. Generally, there's not much to get excited about this album, because the band cannot hit it big time.

Soundwise this is typical modern affair: Everything is loud, so it's too full-crammed yet still everything is audible. Not too machiney, though. The band still brings that one Swedish name to my mind and somehow is left faceless because of it. This feels devoid of of soulfulness. 'Code of Consequences' is a promising effort, but yeah, something very vital is missing.

Rating: 6+ (out of 10) ratings explained

Reviewed by Lane
05/04/2011 20:34