Circle Of Contempt - Entwine The Threads Review

Circle Of Contempt is a progressive/djent band from Pori, Finland formed in 2005. Their second EP and third release called "Entwine The Threads" was released in 2012 through Sumerian Records.

The reason why I first bought this CD was the fact that it was produced by Sami Raatikainen from Necrophagist, one of my favorite Technical Death Metal bands that I really miss by the way. I hoped to find some groundbreaking solos and leads on it with dark vocals and complex riffs, but it was totally different than I imagined it would be...

Starting with the cover art, a very tight and beautiful piece of art created by Matti Virtanen; You can see a huge cube or core that is bound with thin strings it seems that it would explode or break soon over a man that is holding the cord in the front and a misty grey landscape in the background. The cover is really fitting the music the guys are playing, and the artwork inside the CD is very cool too.

The music on this 2012' EP reminds me a lot on Samis' side-project called Radiance. If we would take the instrumentals of this Circle Of Contempt release and replace some vocal passages with clean vocals it could also be the new Radiance release. (Also check out Radiance if you don't know this project yet, it's worth it).
Don't get me wrong, it's not a problem because I love this style of music and also Samis' Radiance). The tracks are very groovy and djenti, very technical at some points and the keys and synths give the music beautiful melodies at some points too. I really love the keys on this release, they really melt with the other instruments together and create a very interesting and beautiful atmosphere during the whole 20 minutes.

The guitars are tuned low and play many chug riffs. They are recorded very tight and in a good quality and have a good sound. The bass can also be heared despite the fact that it is tuned very low as well. It gives the music a really majestic depth that will give you eargasms all day long.

Please do yourself a favor and listen to this EP with good earphones/boxes, not too quiet and in a good quality (320kbps). You will then hear the complexity of the songs especially the very diverse and complex drumming full of variations and the complex keyboarding . The drumming is the strenght of the album, it is tight and sounds fantastic/has a cool mix.

The songs are pretty well structured. They sound very diverse and you can't hear many repetitions. The songs all have a slow intro, synths that get louder and louder 'till the rest of the instruments come in. The songs have some really chaotic passages but all in all they are really tight and good written. All songs fit together and sound almost identic.

The powerful voice of the singer, really angry screams and growls are not something really special but they do complete the album and fit to the music. They make this album almost perfect.

The sound is nothing special, it is still generic djent but that's nothing bad 'cause I like it that way. "Entwine The Threads" can be compared with releases like "Earth" by Elitist or "Burning Sun" by Radiance, so fans of this music will also love this wonderful EP by Circle Of Contempt.

The EP is really really good mixed. Respect Sami! He made a masterpiece from these 5 really intense songs. I'm really looking forward to a further release and I'm hoping to see them live someday. Check out this EP, it may become one of your favorite djent releases! Cheers!

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Born Of Osiris - The Discovery Review

After writing two middle-rate albums that accumulated several good reviews, but also many unsatisfied ones, that often said that the albums are to monotonic, that they are to “generic” or others, the 5 main members of the band managed to write a unbelievable, maybe revolutionary album. 

This epic work named “The Discovery” is like the name says, a new, fantastic “Discovery” in the progressive metal/djent/deathcore world. It contains 15 highly detailed songs, thereof 3-4 very interesting and soothing interludes that make the album wholly cursive and fit totally between the respective songs. The transitions among the tracks gives you the feeling that you are listening to one song that takes whole 53 minutes, one that does not have ”boring” moments or parts that makes you want to skip the song, and one that is a very good source of inspiration for other musicians that play this kind of music. 

Remarkable are the lyrics of this album and the perfect collaboration between the lead vocalist and the background vocalist (also keyboarder). For maybe the first time, the background vocalist whose vocals are a little bit higher than the gutturals of the lead singer, sings alone whole parts of the songs, making him a kind of “lead 2 singer”.

 Talking about the keyboarder… when I listened to the previous two albums and especially the first one “The New Reign” I always asked myself :”Isn’t he totally bored on stage because he uses his instrument only a few seconds pro song?”. Well, on this new Born Of Osiris release, everything changed. The music is full of keyboard sounds and several effects, and when he doesn’t have to play keyboard, he always sings together with the main vocalist, in a way that remembers me of rap battles, so to say a sentence me, a sentence you, the chorus together and so on.

Before recording the album, the band also recruited Ex-All Shall Perish guitarist Jason Richardson, a master of guitar sweeps, djent and 7 strings that recorded everything flawless. On the album, we can also hear plenty sweeps and crazy, fast riffs & soli that give the album more fluency and niceties. The album was mastered unblemished and the quality is conspicuous. 

In my opinion, “The Discovery” is one of my the best releases of 2011, and maybe the best one. I would recommend this album to all fans of modern metal, you will surely not be disappointed.