Customer Reviews

Strength Through Vengeance

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

This is one of the best Metal releases I have heard in awhile. Alot of people will disagree according to other reviews but this cd is Brutal. Yes, there is a Pantera sound to it but so what? Is that bad? F**K NO!!! Pantera aren't coming back anyway so this is as close as you will get if you like Pantera or other Southern Metal. If you cant like a band because they sound a little like someone else then thats stupid. This is a Heavy Azz cd with killer songs and arrangements. Guitars are Heavy as Hell and the vocals are Sick. You won't be disappointed! Trust me... Buy it!!!

This is pretty much just southern thrash metal so of course it draws comparisons to Pantera, Exhorder, Superjoint Ritual, Down and countless others. Regardless, this CD feels fresh, like it's something you've heard before but with a fresh spin on it. There is a new singer on this album named Kevin Randel and it's obvious this guy is a true metalhead, and probably a big southern metal fan. Every song on this album has an underlying dark southern feel, and the anger can definitely be felt pulsating out of this disc. People say this sounds like a Pantera clone, but they definitely do not sound like just Pantera. At times the singer sounds like Phil Anselmo but these riffs are all original and so are the songs, and let me tell you these songs are brutal and will rip your face off. As of this review Kevin Randel has left the band so we'll see what happens to A Perfect Murder, but even if they break up I highly recommend this album to any metalhead. The best songs are "Strength through Vengeance", "Body and Blood", "Slay the Masses" and the amazing "Wake up and Die".

That said, its a very goooood thing, in fact these guys now own my soul, I thought for sure Pantera or anything sounding even similar to Pantera was gone for good, then STV hits, its not Pantera and not as good quality as Pantera, but its realllly close in alot of ways. The vocals are Phil Anselmo, cloned as Kevin Randell, they are awesome, period. The guiter work isnt Dime and doesnt seem to even attempt to imitate him, it reminds me much more of old metallica especially the solos. Drumming is perfect to the music and solid throught, diddo on bass work.
So what if they imitate Pantera, Pantera is dead and gone with the subtraction of Dime there will never be a reunion.
All I can say is THANK YOU GUYS A MILLION TIMES OVER, anyone that is a true Pantera fan will not look at STV as an imitation but as a badddllllllllyyyyyyyyy needed return of real metal.
Im so dam* tired of all these retread hardcore/metalcore bands, they are over saturating and killing themselves just like thier hated "nu-metal" predecessors did.
PANTERA OWNS MY SOUL FOR EVER, BUT APM DEFIANTLY HAVE A LIEN ON AT LEAST MINE.

Also, dont buy this album thinking this is the next Pantera, its not, PANTERA is the best band ever period, but A PERFECT MURDER is the NEXT BEST THING after pantera, Which is pretty good in my book.
EVERY song on this album is excellent, I only wish it was longer, LONG LIVE APM AND THANK YOU GUYS SO MUCH for makeing a Pantera fans dream come true, which is a new band that can give you the same feeling you came away from Pantera with.
This album stands firmly on its own and does not need the comparisons, but why not compare to the greatest?
You guys f*&king rock, keep up the good work and give us more of the same next time out pleeassse.

ps.

in a previous review someone said the packeging of this album said it was the "new pantera" it DID NOT say that, it said "Metallica is old, Pantera is Gone, A Perfect Murder is NOW"
what about that is incorrect may I ask?

.REAL METAL LIVES AGAIN.
.A PERFECT MURDER.
is its namePERIOD

When rating A Perfect Murder's new album, the group's third full length release, it was quite difficult to find the correct number of stars. There are really two opinions you could have about this album; you can either think it's quite an enjoyable listen which satisfies your heavy metal thirsts, or you could think that this band is seriously lacking a sound of their own. I am somewhere in between. It does lose some points for originality-the album title ("Strength Through Vengeance") sounds like it could have come straight out of an old Pantera notepad; and the real lack of innovation, here, is due to the vocal style. Newfound band member Kevin Randel is obviously a true, very angry and hate-filled metalhead, and he makes for quite a powerful vocalist. But, unfortunately, he has clearly listened to a lot of Pantera/Down/Superjoint Ritual, because his throat straining yells (and even his supple growls) almost always sound like Phil Anselmo ("Body and Blood" could easily be a continuation of Pantera's 1994 single, "I'm Broken"). But that is my only real complaint, because the rest of the members of A Perfect Murder don't usually echo Pantera. Plus, "Strength Through Vengeance" sounds just fine, and it should satisfy most metalheads. The title track is a maelstrom of blowtorch riffs, pounding drums, howling vocals, and a couple of careening guitar solos. Later on, track four, "Snake Eyes," is backed by fast, churning riffs and insistent double bass drumming; "Path of Resistence" is a pounding rhythm; "Rotten I" has a salvo of blistering, machine gun riffs; and "Suffocation of Thought" has three wailing solos. Track ten, which is a somewhat soft instrumental entitled "Time Changes Nothing," breaks up the album's monotony and is the only song to bring any type of melody into the mix. So, it's up to you to decide if this album is a loving tribute from A Perfect Murder to Phil Anselmo and company, or if APM are just lacking their own sound and innovation. It may be because Pantera is one of my favorite bands, but I believe that no matter which opinion you have, "Strength Through Vengeance" makes for quite a satisfying listen. And besides, if Throwdown can get away with being a Pantera rip off, why can't these guys?

These guys hit it hard and precise with the sheer energy of a full-on rapid-fire attack. This should get the kids going crazy in the pit with wild, karate-kicking, arm-flailing moshing. Old school thrash pummeled out in machine gun blasts and heavy riffage are dominated by tough-guy vocals in a speedy, in-your-face approach. The guitarists don't just chugga-chugga along, but actually get seriously wanking into some Woodstock-meets-Ozzfest solos. It's funny how metal can make you happy sometimes, and this is definitely something that will get you off the couch and headbanging, and maybe even trying some of those new school dance moves when you know no one is watching.

Bonnie J. Bailey
Synthesis.net

A Perfect Murder is no longer the band you once thought you knew. Their not a hardcore band or even a metalcore band with the tendency to throw in some solos here in there anymore. Their simply a metal band and you'd have to expect major changes when 3/5 of the lineup changes including your vocalist. Is this a bad album? No not really. There's just nothing special going on here. They sounded more unique on "Unbroken" even though this album will probably generate more fans. I'm not sure if Phil Anselmo would be proud at a what a great impression (including the spoken words and croons!) the new vocalist does of him or if he would turn his head and laugh, but the guitar work doesn't even touch the late and great Dimebag Darrell. Basically, what you have here is a very generic Pantera rip off. If you want a new release from Victory pick up the new Darkest Hour "Undoing Ruin" or wait until the new Between The Buried And Me drops at the end of the year. If you want to hear how much this sounds like Pantera listen to "Suffocation Of Thought."

This band's first album was listenable, but this one has three times more depth both lyrically and musically. It sounds a lot like Pantera, though, I wish they would not compare it to Pantera on the packaging, because nothing rivals Pantera or is "the new Pantera." A Perfect Murder is A Perfect Murder period. these songs are harder and faster and make more sense than those on Unbroken. The lyrics and vocals are stronger, more diverse, and less cheesy than the mainly "tough guy" metalcore lyrics on the last one. The album sounds more than a little like things that have been done before, but A Perfect Murder bangs it out in an interesting and brutal way unlike any of its predecessors. Great driving music. Thrash meets, Southern death, meets hardcore, meets Canada. Sweet.

Upon hearing A Perfect Murder's "Possessed" on a sampler about a year ago, I went out and purchased their album "Unbroken". The track was a great exercise in ultra chugga-chugga breakdowns melodic metal riffings; however, the rest of the album fell flat on its face due to repeativity. So then three members of APM quit. So as anyone would, I figured the band was done for. Heh, big deal. They weren't THAT good anyone. So then, a little while later, I see this commerical on TV. It's this metal band with a singer who looks like Anders Friden from In Flames but sings almost exactly like Phil Anselmo. Then the oh-so-controversial tagling: "Pentera is dead. Metallica is old. This is...A Perfect Murder." NO WAY is what I thought. The band that was a complete clone of Hatebreed had become a complete clone of Pantera; but hey, if they're gonna flatter one of the two, might as well be Pantera, right? So, after getting over the suprise of how fast the band had recruited new members and written a whole new album worth of material, I decided APM might be deserving of a second chance. After all, Pantera IS dead, so it could be the next best thing, right?

Wrong.

The problem with this band is not so much that they sound like Pantera-it's like they think they ARE Pantera. Mainman guitarist Carl Bouchard is obviously a dedicated musician to be able to stand by his band (or what was left of it anyay) and write new all these new songs with very little help. But it seems as if his dedication wasn't entirely worth it; the riffs are unmemorable, the lyrics bland, the vocals too resemblent of Phil Anselmo's for you to think anything but "ripoff"...this album suffers from the same thing its predecessor did: unoriginality. It seems that when Brochard saw he couldn't sneak his way into the hardcore scene, he attempted to impact the metal scene; but to no avail. This new A Perfect Murder is just like a watered down, less talented Pantera, and who needs that when you have albums like "Vulgar Display of Power" and "Reinventing the Steal" that you could listen to instead? The singer's no Anselmo, and Brochard is sure as hell no Dimebag.

The bottom line: there's better metal release that you can spend your money on. You'll be hardpressed to find anything special about this CD at all. APM needs to work on finding their own identity before coping someone else's if they plan to make any impact on any scene.

Strength Through Vengeance offers a much more talented effort than their 1st album. IMOP, it's much more creative and musically played out (not just a bunch of thrash & trash riffs lumped along the way!)

All 11 tracks are killer and deliver a brutal punch of bombastic metal that truly utters the Pantera/Metallica style rock their so influenced by! I don't believe these guys are trying to rip of the founders of true American Heavy Thrash rock by any stretch! A Perfect Murder is just extending that sound to their own level/continuing the cause that can only kick metal heads asses & rattle ones insides to the core! Go get this one/it rocks from head to toe & then some!!

this band has a very agressive sound drawing for other bigger band but still very original.A certain cross between thrash and hardcore.fans of slayer,pantera,hatebreed ,malevolant creation,throwdown and all out war will not be disapointed.this band stand out in the modern crown no matter the simularities of other bands!