Reviews might seem easy; just put the music on and write what you hear. But it is so much harder than that. Plus, I love to write what comes to mind while listening. I can say this, writing about someone’s craft or passion and what makes them money as their profession is difficult.
As opposed to critiquing a new record, I merely listen and review it, to tell the readers what struck me and stood out to me. Here’s what I thought about Corroded‘s Defcon Zero:
“Carry Me My Bones” – starts with beautiful acoustic guitars and paints a very renaissance picture for me – even when the electric guitars come in with that power metal chords I still can see a setting in a village or a garden, but the maiden isn’t smelling the roses that her dark suitor gave her – she’s running from him. I love the “umph” in the changes during this 6:35 song. Dang, y’all Swedes can write helluva long songs, can’t ya? This is a tale within a tale…
“Gun And A Bullet” – I dig the hell out of the intro, it’s raw and gritty. Plus, you can’t go wrong when you have heavy riffs laced with the residue from the power of the drum exploding in your ear hole. Can’t leave out the thick guitar riffs that just nudge you along towards the edge….and BAM – the pre-chorus makes you march right off the cliff as you’re hurled down by Jens’ voice and just like a cat, you land on your feet, ready for the next song!
“Retract and Disconnect” – massive start to this track that the vocals with the drums reminds me a bit of Blackie Lawless of WASP. That double bass drum hammers you right in that round hole for the symphonic-like sounding vocals and guitar. I love the voice here the transitions between those ball clinching high notes to the screams and growls is just perfect.
“Fall of A Nation” – shut up! If this doesn’t make you make the metal version of the duck face or pouty face, while throwing up the horns and mock-banging your head, then you have very little metal mannerisms within you. I love the billy-goat gruff that sings/grunts/growls “burn” is hot AF and just gives it a huge presence on the LP.
“Vessels Of Hate” – another sledgehammer intro. But what interests me about this song is the lyrics that seemingly discuss the state of humanity and how those of that just live and let live, just let the hate of others pass right on by. The changes in this track fit even though there could really be two songs playing simultaneously. And NO metal song can ever go wrong when you count to 8 as part of the lyrics.
“Day of Judgement” – what a sweet ass intro again – that bass line is SICK! Ooh and I love, love the double bass that takes your heart and leads you around by your ear. I love this sound, if you can’t tell. Tell me, what is it about that power metal sound that is so yummy? The harmonies are huge too!
“Note to Me” – the echoing vocal that takes your hand from the beginning is really nice coupled with some very haunting tones. Beautiful minor chords, subtle harmonies, amazing lyrics that we’ve either wanted to say or have said. It’s amazing to me what can come out from a ballad and where we fit these into our own lives. This is one of my favorites on the record. We all want to be forgiven or for it to be forgotten, we all have stood before someone stripped to nothing asking to be forgiven.
“Burn It To The Ground” – from that beautiful song we punch right back into reality. It picks up towards the end and I gotta say I love the “burn it to the ground” lyric; especially when there’s a slight Swedish accent mixed with that metal growl. Whew! It’s a little warm in here…but it’s true – sometimes you have to burn it down to start again.
“DRF” – the riff that plays and then goes to a cut time is metal AF. I love that. There’s so much about this song that is modern metal fused with the traditional Maiden or Ozzy-like structure, but Corroded zaps it right into today’s sound.
“Feel Fine” – here comes that anthem-like song that I’ve been waiting for. This song makes you believe in yourself again and springs you loose from all those feelings above. I know we all like to be clean with everything on our sides of the street all nice and tidy.
“Rust And Nail” – another little surprise with the slight breaks. There’s just a finished type of sound that these kinds of elements add to a song, you know? This song just strolls you down the sheet music with the choppy lyrics, but hold on because Corroded isn’t finished. With a sneaky third verse and chorus when you thought it was over, you’re given another 6-minute song that really seems like it was only 4.
Honestly, how can you go wrong with Swedish metal? I mean it’s in their DNA, I swear-ta-god. I have interviewed tons of Swedish bands and I always ask the same question, “Why do you think there are so many amazing musicians that roll out of that tiny country?” And I always get about the same answer: “it’s cold, the sun is out for the winter, and it’s cold so we stay in and learn music”.
I totally dig this record. The sound and production are great, the playing is (as far as I can tell) perfect, and Jens’ voice is tough, raw, gritty, clean and so good at certain parts you could just melt like butter on pavement. I’ll definitely keep this band on my radar!
Corroded is: Jens Westin: Vocals, Guitar | Tomas Andersson: Guitar, Backing vocals | Bjarne Elvsgård: Bass | Per Soläng: Drums. The band is on tour this summer in Sweden, check out their Facebook page here for dates and more information!
