Customer Reviews

Great Collapse

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4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
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1 star:		(0)

 

 

Oh man, if you like hardcore, then this is for you. Simply amazing. Hard, fast, and melodic. This CD just never gets old. Buy this now!

Fear My Thoughts is a band that has always thrived on progression and melody, ever changing with each new release. "The Great Collapse" marks the band's third full length album, placing it almost directly in the middle of the time-line of their discography. Following the release of "The Great Collapse", the band took their melodic sound and death metal driven elements and influences to a new height and to new extremes with albums like "Hell Sweet Hell" and "Vulcanus". However, it was with the release of "The Great Collapse" that Fear My Thoughts started to tread on new water and define their sound for what ended up being the remainder of their career.

The album starts off simple enough. A nice, melodic, quiet, and well performed introductory track, lasting only a few seconds in length, kicks things off in a very unique way. Consisting of only a guitar playing, the track is simple, yet gets a point across while still defining that Fear My Thoughts is indeed a very unique band. By hearing this intro without prior knowledge of the band's style and sound, one would assume that a very peaceful listening session was bound to unfold. Truth be told, this is just the calm before the storm, seeing how immediately following "Velvet", things become more intensified.

Switching to a set of hard hitting riffs, the first "real track" on the album (titled "The Great Collapse") shows what lies ahead on the journey through the album. Mathias Benedikt von Ockl utilizes his unique vocal styling quite well on this track. Bordering between Metalcore and Melodic Death Metal, Mathias provides fierce sounding growls, and grunts, ranging from high to low, while at times throwing in yells occasionally. The result, a very melodic sounding track, bridging the gap for Fear My Thoughts between the Metalcore and Melodic Death Metal genres.

As the album progresses, Fear My Thoughts tends to lean more towards their Melodic Death Metal influences, rather than their Metalcore ones. This makes tracks like "Hollow Inside" and "Mission Immortality" truly stand out tracks resembling works by fellow Melodic Death Metal bands, rather than their Metalcore brethren of whom they are often compared to.

The album ends just as it started off, only in reverse order. The final track "Reign" is one of the strongest points on the album, and one of Fear My Thoughts' most well known singles. The track is very melodic, utilizing extensive drum patterns and beats and well organized guitar riffs. In this track, Mathias sounds more like the Mathias we hear on the albums "Vulcanus" and "Hell Sweet Hell", both of which are actually Melodic Death Metal albums, despite the fact that past releases from the band were Metalcore. The exiting sounds the listener is greeted with consist of a piano repeating several soothing notes for several seconds, until finally everything cuts to black.

The album "The Great Collapse" lead the way for Fear My Thoughts to change their sound from Metalcore to Melodic Death Metal. It was their first album in which they truly embraced all of their inspirations and made a unique set of songs that will surely please fans of both genres in which they experimented with. The progression of the band was great to watch from one release to another, until their final album "Isolation" and their disbandment shortly after, but it all started with "The Great Collapse".

This CD is great! Each track is about 5 minutes long except maybe 2 tracks. There is plenty of intricate drumming and guitar work here. And what really impresses me is the noticable bass guitar. There are possibly two or more tracks with bass break downs! The vocals are harsh and but the music is melodic. Occasionally their guitar player or drummer come in for some backup vocals which adds somewhat to the songs. The lyrics are great! Dealing with the human mind and also politics today. My only gripe, and this is me as a analytical person, but in track 10, Reign, there is an error in the production and it skips briefly. It's noticable but to the casual listener it may not be noticable. Maybe it's just my copy...who knows. Anyways, there is plenty here to keep things interesting so I would recommend this to anyone that enjoys hardcore/trash metal.

Straight up, get this album. I was blown away by this!

We can only hope that they will get to come to America.

According to the promotional writing on the back, this band is considered to be part of the European metalcore genre. However, the first four or five tracks sound more like your standard death metal with haunting growls, distorted guitars and the required crushing drum beats. This area of the CD was interchangeable with most death metal works of late but there was a definite shift in their policy of music making that just might give them an edge over the competition. As the CD progresses, you may hear hints of SHADOWS FALL and HEAVAN SHALL BURN as they engaged in using more identifiable melodies blended with voices that were more human like instead of the animalistic cries. For a comparison you could look to the singer of THE BLED as a starting point. Musically, they become more melody driven with each passing song and by the end of the record, you feel as though you are listening to an entirely different band. This could either prove that they have diversity in their music or it could prove that they are teetering on the brink of being directionless. Irrespective of that perception, this complex record could appeal to a wide variety of fans from the metalcore enthusiasts to the staunch death metal followers. It was nice to hear something else form Europe that didn't sound like a rehash of Iron Maiden or the thousands of other "power metal" bands.