Persistense - In Blood And Heart
Persistense was founded back in 2000 in Den Bosch, the Netherlands. Since then the band released a self-titled six-track EP and a promotional output. “In Blood And Heart” is the first full length album, which was launched by the Dutch label Deity Down Records.
Proclaiming themselves as a “Swingthrash” act, the guys of Persistense are in fact far away from being a normal Thrash Metal band. As far as swing is concerned - I´m not quite sure about it, but you´ll find dozens of grooves on this well produced CD which was mixed and mastered at Excess Studio in Rotterdam. There´s also a huge Death Metal influence, which reflects in the song writing as well as in the vocals. Don´t expect guttural burping, but an interesting cocktail of hoarse but rigid growling and dark, hardcore-ish shouts. The Death Metal elements are the cause for a few nice uptempo parts, but without getting lost in ultrasonic blasting. However, it enhances the entertaining factor of “In Blood And Heart” and helps to loosen things up a little bit. Obviously Persistense is influenced by various well-known bands like Six Feet Under, Hatebreed, Arch Enemy or even Pantera. As a consequence, the riffing ranges from pure Thrash Metal to various simplistic string abusing and nowadays Death Metal with some melodic inserts. One may consider this offers a lot of versatility, but to be honest, it sounds a bit too indecisive to me. In my opinion, the band should have written more straight forward parts to avoid the almost omnipresent mid-tempo groove stuff and its sometimes similar ringing structures. Of course there are no doubts about the skills, but “In Blood And Heart” would be even more interesting with a clear central theme instead of trying to combine Thrash and Death Metal with Hardcore vibes and a mid-tempo basement.
The result is surely still entertaining, but there´s also a small lack of recognition value which won´t make it easier for Persistense to emerge from the masses of connatural sounding bands. Judge for yourself and support this Dutch underground band if you like their style of groovy Thrash and Death Metal.
Proclaiming themselves as a “Swingthrash” act, the guys of Persistense are in fact far away from being a normal Thrash Metal band. As far as swing is concerned - I´m not quite sure about it, but you´ll find dozens of grooves on this well produced CD which was mixed and mastered at Excess Studio in Rotterdam. There´s also a huge Death Metal influence, which reflects in the song writing as well as in the vocals. Don´t expect guttural burping, but an interesting cocktail of hoarse but rigid growling and dark, hardcore-ish shouts. The Death Metal elements are the cause for a few nice uptempo parts, but without getting lost in ultrasonic blasting. However, it enhances the entertaining factor of “In Blood And Heart” and helps to loosen things up a little bit. Obviously Persistense is influenced by various well-known bands like Six Feet Under, Hatebreed, Arch Enemy or even Pantera. As a consequence, the riffing ranges from pure Thrash Metal to various simplistic string abusing and nowadays Death Metal with some melodic inserts. One may consider this offers a lot of versatility, but to be honest, it sounds a bit too indecisive to me. In my opinion, the band should have written more straight forward parts to avoid the almost omnipresent mid-tempo groove stuff and its sometimes similar ringing structures. Of course there are no doubts about the skills, but “In Blood And Heart” would be even more interesting with a clear central theme instead of trying to combine Thrash and Death Metal with Hardcore vibes and a mid-tempo basement.
The result is surely still entertaining, but there´s also a small lack of recognition value which won´t make it easier for Persistense to emerge from the masses of connatural sounding bands. Judge for yourself and support this Dutch underground band if you like their style of groovy Thrash and Death Metal.
- Intro
- Further
- The Reality
- Infinite Madness
- Overcome
- Progress
- Doomsday
- In Blood And Heart
- Sick World
Deity Down Records
Reviewer: Alex
Feb 22, 2010
Feb 22, 2010
Next review:
By The Patient - Catenation Of Adversity
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