Deathstars
Synthetic Generation
6.9
Just not a huge Rammstein fan, to be honest. I find (believe it or not) the vocals to be horribly funny sounding, which sort of fucks up the whole menacing industrial aspect of the band. Deathstars, apart from having the worst name for a metal band since Kick Tracey, are what seems to be a kind of tribute to Rammstein, or thereabouts, but with the occasional death metal flourish. I am spotting a trend, lately…
So, if there is anyone who has not pretended to bang your head to Rammstein before, they kind of combine KMFDM, Ministry, Bile or Skrew with heavy, chorused guitars. The music itself is fairly appealing, but the singer has this hilarious baritone/monotone heavily accented voice that makes the whole thing sound completely stupid. To me anyway. They obviously have enough fans to be able to get records distributed here in the US and videos and soundtracks and shit, so someone digs them.
The same formula is found on Deathstars' album. The band is made up of pedigreed metal musicians in the form of ex-members of Dissection and Swordmaster, although they now have names like Beast X Electric and Bone W Machine, so I can’t say who is who. But the chops are there. And the music does move pretty good, for all that it’s a few years past its prime. The singer does the baritone thing, but not quite so monotonously as Rammstein. In fact he kind of sounds more like Type O Negative’s moaner. The songs have a movement and pace that is infectious, being very industrial, very dark. The production is big and chunky and you can dance to it; I give it a six, Dick.
But that’s the problem with this record. I think of Atrophia Red Sun and what they managed to do with similar themes and ideas, but how inventive and original it all came off, and I can’t help but think that this band is trying to inhabit a niche that no longer means anything. Even six years ago, maybe, but today it just sounds dated to me. Catchy and well done, though.
The bottom line here is that this is a record and a band that makes good music, despite being derivative. But there are other, more relevant industriometal albums out there and they were being made a few years ago. There is no doubt the record has great moments, but on the whole, unless you can’t get enough Skrew in your life, this group needs to explore some different avenues before I can recommend paying for them.
