Crystalic (Finland (Tampere) )

Crystalic - Persistence [2010] (Progressive Death Metal)
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The music industry is a funny old beast. While your Justin Biebers and Lady Gagas are getting multi-million dollar/pound/groat deals (depending on locality), there are talented metal bands literally giving their albums away because they can't get a label to back them. Crystalic are one such band. After three years of trying, and failing, to get a decent deal from record execs, they'd done the only thing left; released Persistence, their aptly titled new album, for free via their website.

The band's lyrics deal with such topics as philosophy, society and the human condition. Pretty standard death metal fare, and fitting to the hard, heavy chug and the fast-paced, intricate riffs. The staccato blasts of the drum behind the driving rhythm of the guitars has an urgency that is infectious. Even the guitar noodling during the solos carries the mood. It makes your heart skip and your stomach tie itself in knots as you feel the energy of the music.

The album seems split in half, the first being a series of hard hitting death metal tracks to showcase the band's musical talent, and the second being a more commercial selection. Between the two halves is the album's only instrumental track, Eulogy. It's dedicated to the memory of Chuck Schuldiner, the father of death metal and founder of Death.

Every track on this album is great, but the stand-out tracks for me are Wall Of Sanity, Voiceless Army and Blastbeat Of My Heart. Blastbeat is an ear-worm of a track, and gets itself inside your head and stays there. That track alone has prompted me to play the entire album numerous times after subconsciously singing it to myself while walking around Tesco.

For fans of melodic or progressive death metal, this album is about as pure as it gets. And those who are not might as well have a listen. It's free, after all. Put your headphones on, crank up the volume, and get ready to detonate the blastbeat of your heart.

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