Anshur-Za, the new album from Krakow, Poland’s Thy Disease, is a well-crafted album for fans of the melodic death metal template
but with a subordination of electronic and industrial conventions akin to Fear Factory. So, depending upon your tolerance for Fear Factory, this is either a positive or negative comparison, as much of Thy Disease’s palm-muted guitar riffing and staccato drumming execution sounds quite similar to Fear Factory’s 2004 album
Archetype; however,
Anshur-Za as a whole doesn’t bear much resemblance to
Archetype, as the electronic and industrial elements are subtle and serve to enhance their aggressive approach--as opposed to containing songs that are purely "electronic" or “industrial," as is indicated on their myspace page. However, those subordinating elements come to the fore in the last two tracks, “Sinner in Me” and “Frozen,” as the electronic and industrial elements dominate while the riffing becomes subordinate, and singer Psycho opts for a clean vocal approach that is characteristic of electronica-themed gothic metal and such. Also, the album contains some interestingly subtle touches of Middle-Eastern instrumentation, such as tabala percussion in the song “General’s Speech,” and the first song on the album, “Blame,” features the Lebanease instrument the quanun. So, while the album delivers on an aggressive level, it also delivers on a more artful level because of the outside-of-the-template conventions of other genres of metal, as well as a modicum of "exotic" instrumentation throughout. In a year full of solid releases, Poland’s Thy Disease has accomplished an album that continues this trend. 2010 has some proverbially big shoes to fill from this year's solid output.
Anshur-Za, the new album from Krakow, Poland’s Thy Disease, is a well-crafted album for fans of the melodic death metal template but with a subordination of electronic and industrial conventions akin to Fear Factory. So, depending upon your tolerance for Fear Factory, this is either a positive or negative comparison, as much of Thy Disease’s palm-muted guitar riffing and staccato drumming execution sounds quite similar to Fear Factory’s 2004 album Archetype; however, Anshur-Za as a whole doesn’t bear much resemblance to Archetype, as the electronic and industrial elements are subtle and serve to enhance their aggressive approach--as opposed to containing songs that are purely "electronic" or “industrial," as is indicated on their myspace page. However, those subordinating elements come to the fore in the last two tracks, “Sinner in Me” and “Frozen,” as the electronic and industrial elements dominate while the riffing becomes subordinate, and singer Psycho opts for a clean vocal approach that is characteristic of electronica-themed gothic metal and such. Also, the album contains some interestingly subtle touches of Middle-Eastern instrumentation, such as tabala percussion in the song “General’s Speech,” and the first song on the album, “Blame,” features the Lebanease instrument the quanun. So, while the album delivers on an aggressive level, it also delivers on a more artful level because of the outside-of-the-template conventions of other genres of metal, as well as a modicum of "exotic" instrumentation throughout. In a year full of solid releases, Poland’s Thy Disease has accomplished an album that continues this trend. 2010 has some proverbially big shoes to fill from this year's solid output.