Post by The Centurion on Sept 19, 2006 14:29:34 GMT -5
Transfigural Form-Destroyed
Released-2006
Label-None
Style-Thrash Metal
Only the most underground of the underground Christian metal fan knows that this is actually Transfigural Form's third full length album. Despite not having record label support, songwriter Todd Pope forges forward and continues to deliver his brand of Christian thrash metal to the masses. Where do I begin? In 2005 Todd released Blood as an internet exclusive EP to give us a taste of what we would end up getting from Destroyed. Let us just say this. Destroyed literally destroys everything that Transfigural Form has released so far. This is pure thrash metal now, gone are the occasional dips into the pool of death metal. The riffs are much faster and more varied than before. Todd's riffs flow together much more smoothly. Some of the songs on previous releases sounded more like a bunch of riffs randomly placed together. Here this is not the case.
Destroyed contains eight songs and two instrumentals giving us a solid 10 track CD with a 41 minute running time. The production quality on this release is a massive improvement over Blood and all previous work. The guitar riffs are clearly heard without all the fuzz that was found in the past. This adds to the overall heaviness of the songs since you can finally hear a nice crunch with every riff. The drums are extremely repetitive though, but they can be heard very clearly. The drums are a big downer for me though since they lack variation and sometimes just sound like time keepers. Even the drum fill in the instrumental song Darkened Existence sounds pretty mechanical. A real drummer would have really made this an outstanding release. Another great addition to the music is an audible bass guitar, this gives the songs some great low end. Unfortunetly that is the only purpose the bass serves and never ventures away from the guitars in any way. The vocals, while not sounding nearly as processed as they did on older releases, still sound poorly recorded and give the album an uncecessary underground feel. What saves alot of this though is the large amount of guitar solos on this disc, be sure to check out the awsome solo on White Witch. The songs flow fairly well as each one gets better than the other. Personally I dont feel that Infirmity X is a very good album opener since I find it boring compared to standout tracks such as White Witch and Final Judgement. Pros are there are some great riffs on this disc and they are fun to get into without being overly technical. The guitar solos are great and really compliment the songs. The cons are the vocals and repetitive drums. Also some of the main riffs could stand to be a bit more interesting. Adding some creepy melodic interludes could do a lot of good on the next CD. Standout tracks include Termination Floodwaters, White Witch, and Final Judgement.
The most interesting thing about Transfigural Form has always been the lyrics. Straightforward, biting, and sometimes even shocking. Todd Pope plays the part of the Old Testament prophets warning the nations of impending destruction. Offering solutions on how to be saved and to avoid this peril, the lyrics can sometimes be too brutal for some. Songs like Angry Kid illustrate this with lyrics like
"one, by terrified one
blood, pools on the floor
their, lifeless teenage bodies
in a pile, by the classroom door
where, were the parents
of this hurting kid?
this, should never have happened
to anyone of them."
Overall this is heeps better than past material and is a solid release. The production quality while not being great is still very listenable and consistent. I look forward to hearing what will be done with the next release.
Reviewed by Dan.
Released-2006
Label-None
Style-Thrash Metal
Only the most underground of the underground Christian metal fan knows that this is actually Transfigural Form's third full length album. Despite not having record label support, songwriter Todd Pope forges forward and continues to deliver his brand of Christian thrash metal to the masses. Where do I begin? In 2005 Todd released Blood as an internet exclusive EP to give us a taste of what we would end up getting from Destroyed. Let us just say this. Destroyed literally destroys everything that Transfigural Form has released so far. This is pure thrash metal now, gone are the occasional dips into the pool of death metal. The riffs are much faster and more varied than before. Todd's riffs flow together much more smoothly. Some of the songs on previous releases sounded more like a bunch of riffs randomly placed together. Here this is not the case.
Destroyed contains eight songs and two instrumentals giving us a solid 10 track CD with a 41 minute running time. The production quality on this release is a massive improvement over Blood and all previous work. The guitar riffs are clearly heard without all the fuzz that was found in the past. This adds to the overall heaviness of the songs since you can finally hear a nice crunch with every riff. The drums are extremely repetitive though, but they can be heard very clearly. The drums are a big downer for me though since they lack variation and sometimes just sound like time keepers. Even the drum fill in the instrumental song Darkened Existence sounds pretty mechanical. A real drummer would have really made this an outstanding release. Another great addition to the music is an audible bass guitar, this gives the songs some great low end. Unfortunetly that is the only purpose the bass serves and never ventures away from the guitars in any way. The vocals, while not sounding nearly as processed as they did on older releases, still sound poorly recorded and give the album an uncecessary underground feel. What saves alot of this though is the large amount of guitar solos on this disc, be sure to check out the awsome solo on White Witch. The songs flow fairly well as each one gets better than the other. Personally I dont feel that Infirmity X is a very good album opener since I find it boring compared to standout tracks such as White Witch and Final Judgement. Pros are there are some great riffs on this disc and they are fun to get into without being overly technical. The guitar solos are great and really compliment the songs. The cons are the vocals and repetitive drums. Also some of the main riffs could stand to be a bit more interesting. Adding some creepy melodic interludes could do a lot of good on the next CD. Standout tracks include Termination Floodwaters, White Witch, and Final Judgement.
The most interesting thing about Transfigural Form has always been the lyrics. Straightforward, biting, and sometimes even shocking. Todd Pope plays the part of the Old Testament prophets warning the nations of impending destruction. Offering solutions on how to be saved and to avoid this peril, the lyrics can sometimes be too brutal for some. Songs like Angry Kid illustrate this with lyrics like
"one, by terrified one
blood, pools on the floor
their, lifeless teenage bodies
in a pile, by the classroom door
where, were the parents
of this hurting kid?
this, should never have happened
to anyone of them."
Overall this is heeps better than past material and is a solid release. The production quality while not being great is still very listenable and consistent. I look forward to hearing what will be done with the next release.
Reviewed by Dan.