Boltdown – Omnicide

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Dark Balance
Produced by Scott Atkins

Boltdown are a fresh, young and highly aggressive band from Newcastle, England. They started in 2006 with the simple aim of making very heavy metal in the vein of their favourite bands like Machine Head, Pantera and Metallica. It didn’t take long to achieve.

Between Throwdown and Boltdown the spirit of Pantera lives on. For the most part Throwdown represent the southern side of Pantera’s sound, while Boltdown take their cues from the more aggressive side with Leigh Final screaming like Philip Anselmo can at his most venomous.

Opener Deadlock could quite easily have been on Far Beyond Driven and exhibits a lot of the modern metal traits Pantera pioneered. But Boltdown then go on to demonstrate a few more strings to their bow. Act… And The Mind Will Follow is closer to the technical metal of Lamb of God while Blind Faith, with a blistering solo for good measure, and Beyond All Reason return to Pantera territory, but the more groove-laden style.

Less Than Nothing surprises with a late-’90s period Testament sound (i.e. Demonic and The Gathering), although obviously with vocals that don’t lean quite so close to death metal, but no less aggressive. The biggest change of pace comes with excellent, moody acoustic instrumental Solitude (with suitable emotive electric solo) before another Lamb of God-style barrage of riffs with Days Long Dead.

Strangely the album ends with two songs, Forced To Submit and The Last Chapter which, although musically in-keeping with the rest of the record, sound a little too forced in the vocal department. The angry screaming takes on that pained early-Trivium sound of someone who can’t really pull off that voice trying too hard. After what’s gone before this seems a little odd, and perhaps these tracks were recorded at a different time to the other eight?

It’s a shame these two tracks don’t quite live up to the other eight, as until this point Omnicide was a perfect workout in modern metal, with all the technicality and groove that requires. Still one of the finest examples this year so far, and for a debut it’s outstanding.

“ barrage of riffs ”

Tracklist: Deadlock / Act… And The Mind Will Follow / Blind Faith / Beyond All Reason / Less Than Nothing / Solitude / Days Long Dead / Stigmartyr / Forced To Submit / The Last Chapter

Written by Andy Lye
More: Albums, Heavy Metal (Extreme Vocals), Boltdown