Nine are a Swedish band playing a mix of hardcore with occasional punk rock riffs and pounding drums. Lots of screamed and one-dimensional vocals, simple power chord abuse, and tracks that rarely see the four-minute mark make up this album. Killing Angels is their fourth album, but it's important as it's their US debut on Deathwish Inc.
Produced by Daniel Bergstrand (In Flames, Meshuggah), sonically the album is good. The drumming is the one and only standout performance on the pieces, as the guy is actually capable of laying down catchy grooves, but the songs won't let him do anything else than steady 4/4 rhythms. The bass is also interesting on some tracks, such as "The Strategy of Fear", a song with a nice bass and drum solo respectively. If the singer didn't scream constantly and the guitar player actually tried to play out some melodies or harmonies, as he nicely does on the punk-rocky "Watching the Train Go By", this album would have been a lot more interesting. It's no wonder why most metalheads are unfamiliar with them, as their songs carry no traces of originality or impressive performance. "Anxiety Report" may be the only song worth mentioning, starting out with tired clean vocals before the lead singer enters the piece screaming as loudly as possible and destroying what could otherwise hold the listener's attention, even for a moment.
The label thinks Nine would appeal to fans of Shadows Fall, Entombed, and Hatebreed. Yet, I fail to see any Entombed fan enjoying this release just because LG Petrov guested on one of the songs. As for Shadows Fall, they sure are a metalcore band, but their songs have plenty of melodic passages and thrashy guitar work. Though described as an album with "thick, dirty guitar riffs coupled with unrelenting throaty vocals", I'm afraid Nine need to re-contemplate their position and certainly work on their writing skills.
Track Listing
- Inferno
- Euthanasia
- Watching the Train Go By
- Strategy of Fear
- Discontent O.D.
- End
- Anxiety Report
- Cardiac Arrest
- 33
- Them
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