Armed For Apocalypse Defeat
Published Sep 14, 2009
On their debut full-length, beastly quartet Armed For Apocalypse opt for the kind of metal that shakes bowels through consistent heaviness and primordial chugging, rather than getting into anything technical. It's interesting and somewhat compelling, seeing that a particularly tasty drone riff can get anyone's foot tapping. The tracks range from modestly melodic bouts of detuned meandering to outright rage, while vocals shift between scorching hollers to Napalm Death-worthy grunts. There are plenty of dynamics, as the band enjoy starting off with monolithic intros before shifting into double-time aggro. However, while it's all adept there's nothing extraordinary about Defeat. Where other acts from this doom/sludge genre have some sort of fundamental uniqueness to their approach, AforA, as they call themselves, fail to generate anything that asserts their position. They just kind of assume it and act accordingly.
(Metal Blade)