Instinct of Survival | ‘North of Nowhere…South of Somewhen’

What is it with crust bands deciding to try their hands at mid-paced Death Metal lately? There seems to have been a quiet but undeniable surge of underground bands in the past couple of years deciding that ‘In Battle There is No Law’ is the preferred blueprint for aural decimation, and going down the route of destructive, landslide metal riffery than outright crust punk.

This, going on the classic strength of that immortal Bolt Thrower debut, is far from a bad. The recent spurt of bands which have been spearheaded by the likes of Limb from Limb and Sanctum (now sadly RIP) have injected a dose of energy and plain lethality that’s often sorely lacking in what passes for the ‘modern’ Death Metal scene.

Coupled with Amebix’s resurrection and the encouraging developments in the respawning Swedish DM scene,Germany’s Instinct of Survival could hardly have chosen a better time to release their long awaited full-length on Ireland’s own Underground Movement label. Previously boasting a far more grind-orientated sound, they’ve since changed their sound towards something resembling the above style.

The ringing strokes of ‘Human?’ set the tone for ‘North of Nowhere…’ as a record that seemly seeks to accomplish two goals. On one hand, the band project a dark and pretty melancholic outlook through moments of clean guitar and expansive chord progressions, even delving into a brief acoustic track with ‘Broken’, which conjuring up the image of some punx minstrel strumming away on an ash-covered beach.

The other aspect is tracks of straight-forward aggression with some meaty riffing and heft. The likes of ‘Suffocation’ and the tail end of ‘Lifeless Bodies’ deserve particular praise in this respect, full of vitality and the requisite power to get the foot tapping.

The vocals are perhaps the most hit and miss factor on the record, neither going for the outright brutality of a consistent Death growl or being really consistant in the the gruff spoken word approach to develop any real message or authority. Hints of ‘Scum’ era Napalm Death and the obvious likes of Axegrinder mean that there’s strong variation going on in the vocal department but often a reversion to an uninspired, throaty shout leaves the riffing sounding a bit lost. One factor that can’t be criticised is the production, a proper wall of sound adding a lot of impact to the tracks.

Overall, there’s very little that’s actually wrong with ‘North of Nowhere…’, but even less again that’s outstanding about it. The album passes by, electing a decent impression on the listener, but rarely grabbing attention in any real way. Live, it may be a different story, and hardened fans of this sound will find plenty here to their liking, but casual listeners will hardly be scrambling for the play button for another fix. It’s Crust meets Death Metal, Jim, pretty much exactly as we know it.

3 / 5 - Lorcan Archer ::: 23/06/09