3rd War Collapse – Catastrophic Epicenter
3rd War Collapse – Catastrophic Epicenter
Lethal Scissor Records
Release Date: 24/08/23
Running Time: 30:29
Review by Oli Gonzalez
7/10
3rd War Collapse are an extreme metal band with members hailing from both Brazil and Finland. Having explored all ends of extreme metal – from technical to straight up brutal – the band are on the eve of releasing their strongest release to date. I’m in the mood for something really heavy, so I’m excited to see what it’s all about.
First song, the album’s title track ‘Catastrophic Epicenter’ took me by surprise. Especially with the much slower and moody opening passage. It’s not long before all hell breaks loose, and the pace suddenly becomes frantic. The riffs are simple yet brutally effective, much in the vein of Bolt Thrower. The rhythm section and back line is solid, sounding heavy, tight, and filling out the low-end frequencies. I like. To be truthful, I’m a bit mixed on the vocals. Both vocalists offer something different. I like the mid-range growls, but the low slam style gutturals aren’t really doing it for me. Though the variety is welcome. ‘Legion Of The Infested’ is a much faster number, taking a more direct straight-on-the-nose thrash metal approach.
‘Coffin Shortage’, “A delightful name for a track” I thought to myself. What a delightful opening though! Kalle showcases some phenomenal talent on the drums, with a brief solo to open things up! That’s some seriously impressive foot work. Whatever Juan has done to his bass tone is absolutely delightful too! This appears to be more of a brutal metal style of track, much like an earlier Suffocation. Yet with a much sharper and modern approach to production. Though I feel like the guitar (only one) is perhaps a little too thin here. Perhaps double or even triple tracking would enable the sound to be filled out more. That old school brutal death metal energy carries through to ‘Terror Diffusion’ and ‘Fomites’, where the pace is still frantic and could cause absolute carnage in a live setting.
This is the theme for the rest of the album; heavy as hell vocals, frantic guitar riffs, blistering fast drums, and all tied up into one well produced and sharp sounding package. While each song in isolation offers all of these elements. This is both a strength and weakness. As part of a compilation album, on a workout playlist, or part of an extreme metal radio show, any one song would be a fantastic addition. Especially with those high production values I mentioned. However, I do believe that once you’ve listened to one, two, or three songs on this album, you’ve kind of listened to them all. This is due to the limited approach to song structures and composition. The band had the right idea in ‘The Last Hecatomb’, by introducing a slower much more melodic passage at the midpoint. Likewise, the album’s opening track definitely shows evidence of their bands ability to mix up dynamics and speed within the same composition. I’d like to see that more in future releases.
The band clearly have musical talent in spades and know how to make that sound immense in the studio. Some variation in their compositional approach is required, in my view, in order for them to reach their massive potential.
TRACKLISTING:
01. Catastrophic Epicenter
02. Legion Of The Infested
03. Coffin Shortage
04. Terror Diffusion
05. Fomites
06. Asphyxiating Tyranny
07. Lacerate The Rival
08. Heresy Behind The Lies
09. Killing Each Other
10. The Last Hecatomb
LINE-UP:
Cris Martinez – Guitar & Vocals
Juan Azevedo – Bass & Vocals
Kalle Lindfors – Drums
LINKS:
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