37 StabwoundZ
Embrace Solitude
6.8
It's hard to articulate exactly how I feel about 37 StabwoundZ, an outfit from the Netherlands with an Ex-Born From Pain member in the line-up. On one hand, their terrible nu-metal sounding name makes me feel like I can't enjoy this based on principle alone, and the fact that this was sent to us over a year after it was released doesn't help their case either. Sadly for me, and maybe for you as it might make for a more entertaining read, I'm not able to judge music solely on those factors. It's not nu-metal. It's part of that vague and respectable genre that bands like Machinehead once belonged to. You know the style, it's what most people should imagine when they think of the word "metalcore". Metallic hardcore. Chugging, groovy, but with more variety and tempo changes and gruff shouted vocals. They toured with Madball. Make sense now? You don't have to be embarrassed to admit to liking this band, however, I'd have some reservations wearing a shirt bearing their band name.
Being 100% honest, I feel like I'm too old for this. Not to call the music juvenile or anything, because lets face it, this isn't anymore ridiculous than your average death metal release, but it's too same sounding the entire way through. It's steady and mashy with some southern influence and Life Of Agony-style vocal breaks. "Vendetta!" has somewhat thuggish vocals during the verses, and full and the usual soulful vocals in the chorus. What makes the song enjoyable or even remotely distinct is the interesting drumwork and simply the fact that it's a 2:38 song with so many parts that still correspond well with each other. "Blade In The Chamber" features your typical Slayer/Pantera introductory riff before kicking into competent thrash and then drops down into a slower and mildly sludgy tempo towards the end. There's a lot of great material and guitar interplay, but so much of it sounds the same to me. It's really a shame, as I know I would've eaten this up when I was younger and enjoyed it through and through. Embrace Solitude just has the perfect production and songwriting style for it to go in one ear and out the other, causing every thrashy, clean, and groovy section to meld into one big amalgamation of tedious "tough" music.
Whatever, though. Their press release compares them to Pantera, Merauder, and Machinehead. That's about as close as you're going to get in terms of describing this one. I'm worn out on this shit, though. Not a heart-stirring release, but more than sufficient for the genre.
