Polish bands tend to be either very good or very bad, this is the first time i have been lumping a band into the middle ground. This has some interesting stories behind this release, it was partially funded by local Polish Government (other countries take note – what a great idea, really, forget your ideals etc, if the government want to help out metal bands – let them!) whether this has been received well in the music industry is still up for debate. Crafting a modern metal sound, Empatic gel a melodic death tone, with serenading guitar riffs and aggressive rhythm time signatures, especially prevalent on the opener ‘Green Mile’ and they take the groove a little further with the Amon Amarth-isms of ‘So-What?’ mixing some of the groove metal associated with say Pissing Razors or dISBELIEF. But a classic Swedish death guitar run sparks up further interest during the same track. In fact, Empatic can be patted on the back for successfully mixing all of the elements of death metal into one simply concise album delivery. The longer you spend with this release, the more you become to take the tracks on board and welcome them into your arsenal. It does not take long to be honest.
The worst thing about this release is the shocking cover of a great OMD track, well in fact musically, it fits rather well, the vocals, forget about it, and please stick to death metal mate! With that little bombshell out of the way, the riffing comes back to the forefront with ‘Dreamer’ and the intense opening riff of ‘VS’, which in itself truly takes you to modern metal territory without losing its appeal at all. The tone that is produced during the latter solo takes me to the tone heard on that great album ‘Ride the Lightning’, an atmosphere, another level of audible listening experience, there is just something there.
Being open minded you will see the plus sides, there are melodic splashes of guitar riffage here and there, a strong groove, but a very powerful modern metal vocal approach.
