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The album opens up with “Sickness,” a relatively uninteresting song that left me a little dubious as to the quality of the songs to come. Phil’s voice, which is usually over the top, sounds almost completely different. His yells are uncommonly low and sound as if he’s trying just too damn hard. It also simply doesn’t work with the hardcore style breakdowns found in nearly every song on this album. On nearly all Pantera and Down tracks, Phil’s high-pitched yells and heavily spoken words hit the listener like a kick in the balls (or cunt, whichever may apply). Yet here they are simply disappointing, as is pretty much everything else. On occasion Phil screams as of old, yet the mix is too distorted for the screams to be pleasing. On a technical level, the album is shit as well. Verses, Choruses and breakdowns rarely progress beyond 3 or 4 power chords (often the same ones only repeated in a different order). The band seems to have just sat down, fucked around on guitar until they came up with something cool, and then thrown in a hardcore style breakdown to try to keep the listener interested, or at least alive. I really can’t tell the difference between the majority of the songs. Opeth blends their songs in a beautiful and positive way, where as Superjoint really just repeats the same already boring riffs and breakdowns. I’m not trying to say that this album is beer coaster material, simply that it is not what I had hoped it would be. I saw Superjoint Ritual live at the last New England Metal and Hardcore Festival, and I found it to be enjoyable despite my lack of knowledge of their material, and their seeming lack of interest in performing. Now after hearing their latest studio album, I’m left with a different opinion of the band. I hate to say it, but this album would simply be better with a different singer. On a positive note “The destruction of a Person” and “Symbol of Nevermore” struck me as particularly interesting songs, yet when I looked at them outside of the album itself, they were nothing spectacular. They simply shone amongst the majority of the other shit found in this album. Diehard fans of the band will probably find this album at least a little more enjoyable than everyone else will.
| Tracklist |
| 1. Sickness |
| 2. Waiting For The Turning Point |
| 3. Dress Like A Target |
| 4. The Destruction Of A Person |
| 5. Personal Insult |
| 6. Never To Sit Or Stand Again |
| 7. Death Threat |
| 8. Permanently |
| 9. Stealing A Page Or Two From |
| Armed And Radical Pagans |
| 10. Symbol Of Nevermore |
| 11. The Knife Rises |
| 12. The Horror |
| 13. Absorbed |
: N/A
| Buy other Superjoint Ritual albums |
