Hedfirst
Headfirst
5.2
Hedfirst is a young Polish band that do not play death metal in the riff-tacular style of Vader. Nor do they play death metal in the pummeling style of Decapitated. What they do provide is a thick, chunky debut album in the vein of Roots-era Sepultura. While the music is free of extraneous tribal business, the heavy low-end sound of the album, the mid-paced chugging crunch, and Przemik Witkowski's decidedly un-Polish take on Cavalera's vocal cadences, all point towards a heavy Sepultura influence. Another fair comparison would be to liken their sound to the Bay-Area crunch of the earliest Machine Head albums, before Rob Flynn went all Yo! MTV Raps on us. You know the sound: heavy, punchy guitar work, some Slayer riffs played at half-time and never afraid to play that E-string open a few times more. As I've alluded to already, the production is bass-heavy and the guitars are probably downtuned or 7-strings. Unfortunately, when they do break out a solo, it's hidden beneath the rhythm guitar. Guitarists Janek and Kuba have a good sense of groove, without being very flashy. I'm sure that some reviewers out there will throw around the nu-metal label, but aside from the occasional piece of a song that could be interchanged with Slipknot's work, Hedfirst is more metal than anything Max Cavalera is up to these days. Hedfirst make the all-too-common mistake of putting their best song first. “Father's Son” has a cool pre-verse riff, a decent little solo, and some stop-start action. “Blame” kicks the tempo up a notch and develops into a fine song, thanks to its strong verse riffs. Lastly, they close out the album hardcore-style, with a Verbal Abuse cover. Since I'm fresh from seeing Madball tear up the city of Boston this week, I'm all for metallized punk right now. The bottom line is that this is an adequate album that you've all heard before. Hedfirst is heavy, yet accessible, without really standing apart from the pack. It's an easy album to listen to for 40 minutes, but it's not as inspiring as some of their Polish metal brothers. Recommended for fans of mid/late-90's Sepultura.
