Lotrify: Demo

It's never easy being harsh about a young band just starting out, however the long and short of the debut EP from Swiss metal act Lotrify, simply and honestly called Demo, is that it isn't particularly good. Aiming somewhere between Power Metal, good old fashioned NWOBHM and Black Metal, Demo contains four tracks which not only suffer from a more than basic production, but also from a decidedly clunky execution and sub standard vocals.

Opening track "Sahara" begins with a pretty basic riff and terrible drum sound, however it is when frontman Sacha Wacker introduces his wince inducing, tuneless talking vocal style that things take a real turn for the worse. At the risk of sounding harsh, I genuinely wondered for a couple of seconds if his vocal "attack" was a bit of a piss-take. However the earnestness with which it is delivered dispels that thought, leaving only the conclusion that the results are actually what Lotrify were looking to achieve.

Musically things are hardly original, although not without merit. However the (in this day and age) unforgivably poor sound quality strips away much of the possible promise. What doesn't help matters is that in a type of metal that can often make up for its shortcomings with verve and vim, the sterile, clinical performances here leave little room for energy or emotion. "The Prison We Call Society" finds Wacker squeezing as many words into each vocal line as possible, before trying his hand at a reasonable growl. It is an improvement, but it would a long stretch to suggest that there aren't many bands doing this sort of stuff far more convincingly.

The short press release that came with this CD suggests that Demo is as much a chance for Lotrify to get a feel for what people outside of their circle of friends think of their music. In all honesty the answer has to be that they have a long way to go to even come close to the required standard.

Track Listing
1. Sahara
2. The Prison We Call Society
3. Victim
4. Shadow Of The Unknown

Added: October 1st 2011
Reviewer: Steven Reid
Score:
Related Link: Lotrify
Hits: 1681
Language: english

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