Zukunft is the second and final album from Norway's noplacetohide, their follow up to 1995's Vergangenheit (which has just been reissued), and an album that was "five years in the making and five years in exile" as the band has proclaimed. Although pretty much unknown here in the US, noplacetohide has built up a name for themselves in their homeland and abroad, despite the majority of Norwegian acts pumping out either black metal or melodic death metal since the bands inception in the mid-90's. It's a shame that they have split up, as Zukunft contains some solid metal that seems to bridge the gap between Meshuggah, Fear Factory, and some of the more crunchy and technical hardcore styles that we have seen over the last decade.
Relentless and deep bottom-heavy grooves are the name of the game here, along with bone crunching guitar riffs and harsh, screaming vocals. Tunes like "Capisce", "Shut", "Counterfeit", and the pummeling "We Saw What Came, It Didn't Scare Us" (gotta love that title) steamroll with the precision and aggressiveness of early Meshuggah. In fact, some of these riffs and rhythms are so deep that you would swear that many of these tracks are leftover Meshuggah songs with a harsher singer in tow. The band even throws in some melodic and funky moments as well, like on the groove-laden "Future II", complete with fat bass and wah-wah guitars.
Overall this is some pretty fun stuff, as most listeners will be able to get many miles out of the multitude of riffs and grooves contained on Zukunft, although the vocals of Hasse Moen do get a tad grating after a while. Despite that, I can easily recommend this CD to any extreme metal fans who likes that extra "thump" in their music. Too bad we won't see a sequel to this.
Track Listing
1) Thyroid
2) Rocket Science
3) Capisce
4) Shut
5) Counterfeit
6) Future II
7) Recover
8) Future I
9) Coin
10) Flat Out Fucked
11) We Saw What Came, It Didn't Scare Us
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