Author: Sebastijan Videc
Artist: Resistance, The
Label: Ear Music Records
Release: 2013
Length: 39:24
Rating: 4/5
When you talk about The Resistance, you can’t skip past their main guitarist. Jesper Strömblad has been ranked number seventy on a list of the best metal guitarists. He’s a founding member of Ceremonial Oath, Dimension Zero, HammerFall, Sinergy and The Resistance, but of course he’s best known and most celebrated as the guitarist of In Flames. In Flames weren’t the first band to play melodic death metal, but they’re surely the ones most responsible for popularizing it, and for the invasion, or, as In Flames would put it, the colonization of the world with the sounds of the Gothenburg scene. In 2010, after seventeen years, he decided to leave the band because of personal struggles and treatment for alcoholism – at that moment it was a huge shock for fans, since Jesper had a big hand in the band’s signature sound. But those who knew Jesper better were convinced it wouldn’t be long before he’d pop up on the scene again with new work.
And sure enough, it took only a year for the news to spread that Jesper was creating again with a new band. In 2011 he was joined by his old bandmate from In Flames and HammerFall, Glenn Ljungström, singer Marco Aro (The Haunted, Face Down) and drummer Christofer Barkensjö (Face Down, Kaamos, Carnal Forge,…), and recently bassist Claudio Oyarzo came on board too. With nothing but seasoned musicians, a new Swedish supergroup was born, you could say. The guys put out their first EP, Rise for Treason, in January and at the same time announced an album for the end of spring. The EP already made it clear, though, that despite what some expected and others hoped for, the »rebels« weren’t going to serve up the soft, modern-day In Flames sound.
The album kicks off with a scream of »Fire in a hole!« and uncompromising Swedish death metal, with Marco’s vocals thundering over a fury that assaults the listener’s ears. If you were expecting melody, given who’s in the band, look elsewhere. A glimpse of Jesper’s melodic guitar does show up in Clearing the Slate, but then Your Demise keeps up the furious rampage and feels perfect for playing live, with headbanging rhythms and transitions from slower (but still fast) to faster sections. To the Death, for example, is less than a minute and a half long, but it mows the listener down like a machine gun. Thankfully Expand or Expire starts at a slower tempo so we can catch our breath, but the breather is short and the assault carries on with proper old-school Swedish death metal. The distorted bass and slightly slower rhythm of Imperfected set off subconscious head movements in the chorus, while the melodic line recalls early In Flames and At The Gates. Heavy riffs and lots of drum transitions mark I Bend – You Break, while The Serpent King goes on a touch more melodic, with Jesper dipping into the roots of melodic death metal again and drawing inspiration from his first band, Ceremonial Oath. The »rebels« serve us more in this vein with Eye for an Eye, My Madness, Warmonger and the title track Scars. The last track, (I Will) Die Alone, deserves a special mention. It sounds more modern, with syncopation at the start, a slower rhythm in the chorus and a melodic guitar underneath, then somewhere halfway through it shifts into an electronic drum beat and harmonized guitars with a solo that practically screams its creator’s signature, and you actually find yourself asking »Why the hell didn’t In Flames go down this road?«. Listening to Die Alone, you honestly get the feeling it’s an In Flames song, and I’d happily slot it onto legendary albums like Whoralce and Colony.
Listening to The Resistance’s debut can’t and won’t leave you cold. Those of you expecting an In Flames rip-off, you’re wrong. I definitely recommend the album to longtime fans of Jesper’s work. The band members are all scene veterans who each do their job superbly. The band has huge potential and I hope they keep going in this direction, and I’m also hoping for some live shows closer to home. And maybe, to finish off, a little daydreaming – how would In Flames sound if Jesper came back and Marco replaced the vocally weak Anders?
Lineup
Marco Aro – vocals
Jesper Strömblad – guitar, bass guitar
Glenn Ljungström – guitar
Christofer Barkensjö – drums
Production
Roberto Laghi
Tracklist
1. Clearing the Slate
2. Your Demise
3. To the Death
4. Expand to Expire
5. Imperfected
6. I Bend – You Break
7. The Serpent King
8. Eye for an Eye
9. My Madness
10. Warmonger
11. Scars
12. (I Will) Die Alone
