Author: Rok Klemše
Artist: Eruption
Label: Xtreem Music
Release: year_month
Length: 44:00
Rating: 4/5
Eruption have been one of Slovenia’s busiest metal bands since day one, no question, and luckily they’ve carried that hard work from the stage into the studio too. A good three years after their well-received debut Lifeless Paradise, they’ve recorded and released its follow-up in a relatively short time (which is more than commendable by Slovenian metal-recording standards), and called it Tenses Collide. They packed nine thrash wreckers onto it and, much to my delight, outdid the debut in a lot of ways.
The upgrade is noticeable from the very first moments, because this time the sound was handled by the production duo of Jan »Jey« Švigelj and Žiga »Ruzz« Zmazek from Negligence studios. That means the album sounds crushing, clear and clean, and the instruments crunch like Kellogg’s cornflakes (»They’re Gr-r-reat!« goes for Eruption on Tenses Collide too!). And that’s only the first improvement, and maybe just the cherry on top. The material captured on the new album is a clear and serious step forward from the debut, and proves that, despite their youth, Eruption have plenty of musical maturity. You hear it mostly in the richer, more thought-out arrangements, the songs with more varied structure and dynamics, and just generally much stronger songwriting. It’s great that the guys get that even if you play thrash, you don’t have to scream the whole time and focus only on speed.
So Eruption tear the listener apart like a tornado right from the opening monster Fractured, but after the initial blast they surprise with a slowdown and in the chorus remind you of Forbidden. The fantastic Celestial God, with the catchiest and most melodic chorus on the album, confirms that they spent more time on choruses this time. The obvious »homage« to »alien conspiracy theories« gets the cherry on top from guest guitarist Brad Hull (Forced Entry, Sanctuary) and from Klemen »Buco« Kalin, who shows a huge vocal improvement over the debut. If his flat thrasher performance on Lifeless Paradise earned him the nickname Bucoff (after Paul Baloff of Exodus, of course), this time, with strong, convincing vocal lines that he now only occasionally spices up with high screams (or rather, doesn’t overdo them), he’s closer to Russ Anderson (Forbidden). Bucuss? An even nicer surprise is the excellent lyrics, which thanks to the good delivery fit the music phenomenally (Last Transmission is a good example).
Once again the riff meat grinder from Tim Tajić and newcomer Andrej Čuk impresses; with a varied palette of riffs and brilliant solos, the pair breathed into the album exactly what every thrash album needs – a powerful guitar sound that flattens everything in its path. Apart from a few rare moments, you can’t accuse the riffs of being too repetitive or monotonous, since each of the nine songs (except for the instrumental intermezzo Unknown Dimension) has its own strong riff, unique to that song alone. The revamped rhythm section did its job with distinction too, and the other newcomer, Ivan »Tegla« Cepanec, impresses as well; thanks to his death metal background, he brought the necessary seismic freshness to Eruption. The fear that he’d bring too much death metal influence to Eruption was unfounded, since Tegla stays within the Eruption sound while remaining true to his own drumming. It’s full of varied transitions and typical polka-style »oompah-oompah« frenzies, and Tegla clearly listened to Testament’s latest album, because, in the style of Gene Hoglan, he livens up the closing of the wrecker Selfcaged with a »blast beat.« The bass lines are also more than a good complement to the guitar work, but unfortunately the production pushed them a bit too far into the background, so they unfairly go unnoticed. Sadly, Tenses Collide loses some of its conviction in the second half: The Forlorn sounds like something that could easily have found its place on Lifeless Paradise (and slightly recalls Playing With Matches), while Unparticled Matter, at seven minutes, is a bit too drawn out. But the honor of an excellent album is saved at the end by the epic closer Empty Shells, in which Eruption show off all their strengths one last time – strong riffs, mighty »gang« vocals, an excellent, singable chorus and a seismic rhythm section.
The new thrash eruption is definitely one of the brightest moments of the Slovenian metal scene last year, and it can only be a great launchpad for what comes next, which, judging by Tenses Collide, looks extremely promising. Don’t forget that Eruption will premiere Tenses Collide live on January 24, 2013 at Orto bar!
Line-up
Tim Tajić – guitar
Klemen “Buco” Kalin – vocals
Andrej Škof – bass
Ivan Cepanec – drums
Andrej Čuk – guitar
Production
Jan “Jey” Švigelj and Žiga “Ruzz” Zmazek
Track list
1. Fractured
2. Celestial God
3. Enter the Hive
4. Selfcaged
5. Last Transmission
6. Unknown Dimensions
7. The Forlorn
8. Unparticled Matter
9. Empty Shells
