The Kandidate - Until We Are Outnumbered
Napalm Records
Crossover Groovecore?
10 songs (32:41)
Release year: 2010
Napalm Records
Reviewed by Steve
Crap of the month

The first time I listened to this album, all I could think was, “wow, that was a hot mess.” I made what I feel was a valiant attempt to find some merit in this record or to, you know, just answer that age old question, “is it me?” Well, I’m like 99% sure at this point it’s not me. I listened to it more than a dozen times and then I just couldn’t anymore. This thing sucks. It’s one of the weirdest amalgams of styles I’ve ever encountered. Until We Are Outnumbered is billed as Death/Thrash, but the dominant vibe is actually of groove metal! There’s barely anything thrashy here and it’s definitely not death metal.

There’s just a hint of blast beating on tracks two and three. Of course, if you don’t do something enough it just sounds out of place. It’s ironic in this case because I get the sense they threw the blasts in so they could label it “Death/Thrash.” It doesn’t fit the overall aesthetic of the album anyway. The riffing is as plain-Jane and homogenous as it gets. At points it sounds like Allan Tvedebrink only has two strings on his guitar. It’s that boring. And get this: track six is an instrumental! Oh, thank you for that sublime jam, The Kandidate. So contemplative and inspiring.

I suppose the headline should be that the vocals on Until We Are Outnumbered are laid down by Jacob Bredahl, lately of Hatesphere, who also produced this gem. I don’t bring any prejudice against that band to this review. I remember checking them out once and thinking it wasn’t for me, so I can’t compare the two. I’d be real surprised, though, if I went back and discovered I’m a Hatesphere fan after all. Bredahl sounds alternately like he’s choking, belching, trying to roar like a lion, and straining through an overdue dump. Oddly enough, the only two remotely interesting tracks on the record are the last two, Enemy and Yours Truly, which both see Bredahl attempting to do some actual singing.

With bands like Revocation and Ares Kingdom shredding up the planet as we speak, let’s be a little less casual with the Death/Thrash tag, O.K.? It’s highly appealing when done properly and I’d hate to see it corrupted by being slapped on crap like The Kandidate.

Killing Songs :
None
Steve quoted 20 / 100
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There are 2 replies to this review. Last one on Wed Jun 30, 2010 1:18 am
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