Author: Rok Klemše
Artist: Armaroth
Label: Self-released
Released: year_month
Runtime: 19:24
Rating: 4/5
Gorenjska, or more precisely the Kranj music scene, has always been strong, especially in alternative genres and even more so in metal. North of the capital, for example, ex-Yu thrash veterans Sarcasm got their start, and the Gorenjska capital has been seeing a boom of young bands over the last few years too. One of those young guns is Kranj death metal crew Armaroth, who burst onto the scene with the demo album Burning Execution (2010) and this summer followed it up with the short record False Vision.
The band, who just celebrated their fifth anniversary, drag us straight into the heart of the EP’s themes with the intro False Vision. Those themes touch on all-too-relevant topics: human greed, the depravity of modern economics and politics, the vampiric grip of capitalist lobbies and media manipulation (the latter tackled with exceptional psychoanalytic insight by Slavoj Žižek in last year’s The Pervert’s Guide To Ideology). With the EP, Armaroth have captured the pulse of a modern world that’s turning into nothing less than the full-blown dystopia of Brave New World and 1984, and the guys from Kranj have delivered a fitting soundtrack to the collapse.
They pull this off mainly with crushing, devastating guitars whose riffs burn like freshly dropped napalm. The Jagodic/Govekar duo wins you over with excellent combining and interweaving of guitar lines, and even more so with gloomy, morbid riffs that come close to the school of Obituary and Bolt Thrower. The riffs manage to weave just the right sense of menace that suits the themes Armaroth tackle in the lyrics. Alongside the really lively bass lines (which, considering their variety and dynamics, could be pushed a bit further up in the mix), the guitars in places create a seriously fat groove (Modern Man) that marches over you and leaves you in a puddle of blood. This time around it’s the drums that bring the most dynamics, as Gregorc unfolds a whole palette of varied transitions, fast and slow sections, and the obligatory but tastefully executed blast beats. Filip’s throat spews out a totally classic death metal growl, but it’s a convincing one thanks to its clear, brutal, inhuman delivery. Here and there the death metal marches are backed by a just-right, pronounced yet subtle use of keyboards (Modern Man, Cell That We Bleed In), which only adds to the ominous fate hanging over corrupted humanity.
With False Vision, Armaroth have taken a huge step in the right direction, striking the right balance between the European (Swedish) and Florida schools of death metal, with just the right dose of modern elements. The excellent production nails the balance between brutality and not-too-polished sound, and for a self-released, »low-budget« record, the sound is downright astonishing. With this EP, Armaroth have laid solid foundations for a very promising road ahead, and until then, put on your glasses like Nada in Carpenter’s cult classic They Live and see through it all!
Lineup
Klemen Govekar – guitar
Dino Rebolj – bass
Andrej Gregorc – drums
Martin Jagodic – guitar
Filip Košnik – vocals
Production
Armaroth, Damir Juretič
Track list
1. False Vision
2. Modern Man
3. High
4. Labyrinth of Greed
5. Cell That We Bleed In
