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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Album of the Year!, June 26, 2008
Not surprisingly Communic has delivered the album of the year so far! Not surprising considering their previous masterpiece 'Waves of Visual Decay' was also the best metal album two years prior. Not much has changed in Communic camp. Probably a good thing considering that their last album was near perfect. The songs are still relativly long and dynamic with many details to uncover with each listen. Blending seamlessly a healthy balance of crushing heavy riffs and soft quiet moments usually within the same song.
For those unfamiliar with Communic's sound I would best describe it as a mix between Nevermore/Sanctuary and Angel Dust. They are progressive in the sense that the song arrangements are very dense and layered rather than going off on tangents and the noodling style prog. They also have a very heavy almost thrashy sound similar to the bands mentioned. Communic are definitely not an immediate band to get into as several spins of attentive listening is required to grasp the dense nature of the songs. The lyrics are also very intelligent and well thought out. Not an ounce of cringe inducing cheese to be found.
The vocalist is excellent in vein of Warrel Dane (Nevermore) fame and can hit some extremely high notes in the range Dane used to hit in his Sanctuary days. Though smartly he only hits these extreme high notes when needed. He mostly sings with a powerful midrange dripping with emotion that often send chills down your spine. Truely awesome!
Like I mentioneded previously not much is different between this album and the last. Just more of the same first class songs done the Communic way with a fresh batch of ideas. Surpassing a masterpiece like 'Waves of Visual Decay' might be an impossible task, but IMO this album is on par with it.
No need to go into detail about individual songs on the album since they all are excellent but man do they save the best for last here with 'Stone Carved Eyes'. Talk about a scorching grand finale! This has to be one of the best metal songs of all time!
In conclusion if you liked Communic before then you will not be disappointed. Communic is at the pinnacle of metal today and there are only two things I can think of that could lead them to possibly top these last two albums. More uptempo moments and some better solos would be about it. Well done once again gentleman. Album of the Year so far!
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
"As seconds fly a storm arise", June 25, 2008
4.5 stars. Take the aggressiveness of the song "My Bleeding Victim" from their previous album "Waves of Visual Decay" and multiply that eight times over and you now have Communic's latest offering "Payment of Existence". As long as this album is it only ever lets up with slight shifts of tempo allowing the listener a moment to breathe before relentlessly throttling once more into head-banging bliss. Communic amplifies the senses on this recording, revealing layers of intricate songwriting upon repeat visits, making the return value increase with each spin of the CD. Great Progressive Metal becomes more enthralling the more I hear it, which makes it one of the most attractive genres of music on the planet. However, the bar was set so high with their masterpiece "Waves of Visual Decay" that any follow-up release was bound to grow pale by comparison. I still beleive that album to be a monumental recording of Progressive Metal, and one of the best examples of how great the genre can be. That said, "Payment of Existence" is an exceptional, attacking slice of Progressive Metal from one of the best bands to grace the genre. Highly recommended.
1. On Ancient Ground (8:45)
2. The Abandoned One (8:45)
3. Becoming of Man (7:55)
4. Payment of Existence (7:32)
5. Through the Labyrinth of Years (5:46)
6. Raven's Cry (8:18)
7. Unpredictables of Life (6:40)
8. Stone Carved Eyes (9:12)
It's amazing how long the songs actually are because the music flows so quickly and with so much aggression that the album just flies by. Excellent.
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
The true "thinking man's metal", August 8, 2008
2008's Payment of Existence is the third album from Norwegian progressive metal band Communic. I have to confess that I was a bit skeptical going into this album. I wasn't blown away when I caught the band live at last year's ProgPower USA fest, and what I had heard of their previous albums was a bit too close to Nevermore's sound for my tastes. I'm happy to report that my skepticism went out the window about a minute into this album.
With Payment of Existence, Communic has proven that they are no mere Nevermore clones. You still hear the Nevermore influence in the thrashing riffs and Oddleif Stensland's vocals, but the album takes a much more progressive (not to mention aggressive) approach. It's an unrelentingly heavy album, but it's an intricate kind of heaviness with a lot going on that takes multiple spins to really appreciate. It's like there are layers upon layers to peel away. To me, that's a true measure of how progressive the album is, not a bunch of 10-minute solos or a total keyboard extravaganza. In addition to the aggressive approach, the album has a very intelligent, very mature feel, both in terms of song structures as well as lyrical content. My only real compliant is that it doesn't have much in the way of melodic elements.
I know Spiral Architect branded themselves as "thinking man's metal" with their math equation-like compositions, and Pain of Salvation tends towards the intellectual end of the spectrum, but I think that what Communic has accomplished with Payment of Existence is the true thinking man's metal album in that it is both an intelligent and mature as well as an unmistakably "metal" offering. It's smart, but you can still rock out to it.
Payment of Existence is one of the year's best progressive metal releases, and is one that should appeal to just about any prog metal fan, especially those who prefer more aggressive bands like Mercenary and Into Eternity.
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