Rating: 7.6

Country: Netherlands

Release Date: 2005

Track list:
1. Abyss Of Madness
2. Megalomania [mp3]
3. Art Of Terror
4. The Evil In Me
5. Seeds Of Hatred
6. Legalize Dismemberment
7. Punishment
8. The Blood Didn't Die
9. Glorified

Band Website: Blastcorps

Blastcorps - Glorified

Peter Paul - Guitars
Aad Kloosterwaard - Vocals
Toep Duin - Drums

Seems like over the years ex and current members of Sinister have always had their hands in something, usually very good, almost never amazing, but all very welcome to my collection. Now after projects/full fledged bands like Houwitser, Infinited Hate and a few other “ripping” bands (you old schoolers know who I cryptically refer to), we are given BlastCorps, featuring Aad, Alex and Paul; all of Sinister's current line up (Paul provides some guest solos). With the addition of Alex's brother Peter and drummer Toep we have a band who of all Sinister related bands is definitely the furthest removed from the Sinister style.

This guitar has a damned weird sound I swear... It's crunchless, yet still a deathmetal tone I reckon. The mix is fine, its guitar driven with a blast/half blast beat backbone and sounds a hell of a lot like Anasarca in many regards. The vocals are a dry grunting, fairly powerful and while void of much range are done with great conviction (by way of Aad Kloosterwaard). The riffs are somewhat melodic and while repetitive in nature the songs don't necessarily drag… But I am at times distracted by the guitar tone here. It's definitely not a wimpy or non deathmetal tone-but yet is very soft and smooth around the edges. Somewhat unconventional tone or not it seems to fit with the style of metal they're creating, if I do not allow the distraction I become enthralled by the music speaking of which…

'Glorified' starts of with “Abyss of Madness” a short, rapid fire instrumental before knocking your head off with “Megalomania”, which starts with Aad roaring out multiple vocal attacks, layered against each other. Excellent way to start things off, hitting the ground running if you will. “Megalomania” does an excellent job of letting us hear the general idea of the whole album. As mentioned before it sounds much like Anasarca, equal parts brutal and simple non-limp/poppy melodies. Also as mention previously it's repetitious in composition… While often this can be a damning quality, BlastCorps come off virtually unscathed. They are repetitious in the Deranged style-and not the Deeds of Flesh style, in that every song itself is repetitive-but you can certainly distinguish one song from the next.

Nothing fancy with the drum work, the patterns aren't complex, there is nothing that will make your mouth gape open in awe-in contrast there isn't a moment of sloppy or misplaced patterns. In this day in age, with all of the gravity blasts, and needlessly complex “rhythms”, pointless drum heroics, I for one embrace a more straight-forward drumming style. Not every one needs to be Suff-Orig-Decrepi-Session any-damn-way!

Plenty of songs on here have what I would refer to as “mandatory head bang riffage” (“Legalize Dismemberment” has the best ones!). Often you'll find riffing style that would fit well with bands like Thanatos and Pestilence (Holland tradition abound!). Other times the music can reach rather intense tempos where the riffs fire faster than the drums and the vocals take on a dominating, aggressive role (“Punishment”).

Overall, what we have here is a very old school styled album, without entirely being of the old school style. Loads of quality material ready made to damage ear drums and skeletal systems in a live environment. Though for one final time, I need to mention this guitar tone-it's not bad as say, Malevolent Creation's 'Stillborn' album, it's not wrongly recorded or mixed, it's just an odd choice for this style. You'd have to hear it yourself to comprehend, but don't think that in any way that this is me trying to say the guitar tone is a reason not to give this band a shot. Just be prepared for a different sound than you're usually used to.

Stand out numbers include “Megalomania” with its addicting melodic focal point, the relentless riff lesson of “The Evil in Me”, the violent vertebrae decimating “Legalize Dismemberment” as well as the short and volatile “Punishment” and the proudly militant, teeth gritting title track, ensure this album as a good reason to drop a chunk of whatever currency you may carry in your wallet, pocket or girlfriends purse.

September 18th, 2006