Now Noize!, The: Raging Mad Insanity

I don't know what kind of name The Now Noize! is for a straight-up death metal band, but I'll be damned if these guys aren't pros at the craft. Unfortunately, the CD cover came with no liner notes, so I have no idea who's playing on this album, but based on the impressive musical skills in evidence here I'd be surprised if this weren't a side project of one of the bigger death metal giants. Raging Mad Insanity is an appropriate, albeit cliched, title for this disc. From start to finish there are an abundance of riffs to satisfy those easily bored with lack of progression, and The Now Noize! know when to repeat a phrase and when to move on to the next; when to speed up and when to slow down. In fact, the only thing I can really criticize about this release, other than the lack of any real originality, is that occasionally there are abrupt stops and starts where it sounds as though certain riffs have been electronically pasted into the song. Similarly, the cymbal clashes have a tendency to get cut off unnaturally, diverting the listener's attention away from the rhythm of the song.

Other than the above quibbles, Raging Mad Insanity is a highly competent album with no real bows to black metal. This may put off some fans of extreme music who feel that traditional death metal has run it's course, but if The Now Noize! don't sell any albums, most likely it will be because people don't know what the hell the band are all about. There is a pretty grim picture on the cover that looks like the Incredible Hulk run through a blender, but that could represent so many things these days. There are doubtless other death metal bands performing this capably that are beyond my knowledge, so I hesitate to recommend this too highly, but those who don't listen to much outside the genre might look into this group.

Added: January 1st 2004
Reviewer: SoT Archives
Score:
Hits: 2464
Language: english

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