Eskimada is slated as an alternative rock band with metal tendencies, but their eponymous debut album sounds more like alternative metal with rock tendencies.
Most of the tunes are built around heavy metallic and hard rocking riffs (just check the main riff of 'Lose Control' and 'Right Now' is an all out crossover metal song) - some being more of a grungy nature (and this is where the "alternative" label comes in) - and straight heavy drumbeats. And as alternative metal goes, I think this is a pretty good release. I mean, if Queensr˙che had gone more in the direction of the music on this release, I am sure that Dedicated to Chaos would have had a much more positive reception.
I quite like Raffaelle Pibiri's clear and almost volatile sounding voice, because it has a very expressive quality to it which goes extremely well with the vocal melodies. He also does a couple of growls and screams every now and then, suggesting that the band take inspiration from extreme metal as well. Most of the time his experiments with harsh vocals work pretty well - with the exception of an unfortunate Korn moment in 'All I need', but never mind that.
The production quality is a bit varied throughout the album. The bass is very dominant, which is not really a problem, but the guitars are, at times, very weak in the mix, which I think is a shame, as the power chord-based figures provide both depth and breadth to the music itself and also provides a good backdrop for the vocal melodies.
This is not a perfect album, but definitely a strong debut, showing that Eskimada is worth keeping an eye on in the future. They definitely could end up rivaling acts like Nickelback, Korn and post-Dedicated to Chaos Queensr˙che.
Track listing:
1. Keep in the Strength
2. All I Need
3. Stand
4. Hero
5. Lose Control
6. Interiudio
7. The 16th Minute
8. Right Now
9. Action
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