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Tuesday, August 25, 2009

Reactor - The Tribunal Above (1991)



Genre: Death Metal
Country: Switzerland
Year: 1991

1. Intro/Deformed Personality
2. Near Dark
3. The Tribunal Above
4. Religious Fight
5. Circle Of Eternity [Cut Off...]

Download at Mediafire
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Last.fm

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Reactor was the previous incarnation of the great Sickening Gore. Having released only this lone demo before changing their name, they certainly pulled out all the stops. Clocking in at an incredible 34 minutes for a demo, and only five songs, you can expect some intricately performed Death Metal on this piece, and that is exactly what you get. Amazingly developed and well-performed Death Metal for a first effort, Reactor definitely grasp the whole idea of 'song structure' and utilize their creative genius to create longer-than-normal songs that take you on a complex journey. I'd even go as far as to call this Progressive Metal because of how the songs are written, with their spacey interludes and tempo changes.

This demo is host to one of my all-time favorite introductions, starting off in the distance and ambient, slowly building apocalyptic atmosphere before unleashing the beginning of "Deformed Personality". Can't get over how smooth the transition was and how goddamn well these songs were written. The production is not what you'd expect from a first demo; it's really good, and everything is in balance, although the vocals seem a bit loud in the mix at times. The drumming is fast and furious, with constant double bass and fast-paced snare hits to keep the songs moving along at a decent speed. The guitars have a great tone to them, but unfortunately don't stand out as much as the vocals and drumming. Not a problem though, as they get the job done. The vocals are awesome. Most of the time we'll hear a death grunt, but more often than not, you'll hear apocalyptic yelling in the background, like the guy's falling off a cliff and screaming "NOOOOOoooooooo" all the way down. Sounds really good, even if he's not actually saying anything. Totally rcommended.

1 comment:

  1. Any chance of posting this one again.
    Just came across one of the tracks on Youtube and it totally shreds!!!

    ReplyDelete