Before we talk about the actual music on the album, I'll tell you a bit about the album art work.
So as you can see, we have what can only be described as a demon standing above some kind of alter. Clearly he is evil, and he has elected someone for a job. The job description was probably "Bring me the most unholy music you can create!!" Clearly, Die No More were up for the job, and did it fairly well considering their logo now sports a pentagram!
The album kicks off with an ambient intro, that has a kind of sci-fi vibe to it. It sounds like something that you'd want to have on just before your about to go into the chamber at laser quest. And then the riff for Dark World explodes through the speakers, before Marc's vocals come in. The song has a brilliant little chorus with the lyric "Democracy lost and found, different but the same!" and various over lines that challenge authority. Kev's solo's in this are pretty good, going wild during the main solo and showing off a bit of tapping at the end! With the first song alone you have the ambiance to get you in the mood for Laser Quest, and the heavy riffs to get you in the mood for shooting all who oppose you (at Laser Quest).
The second track is called Soul Destroyer, and while my soul is still very much in tact, the tune does have the ability to make you shit your self thanks to the chorus, which is in a kind of call respond way, except the responses are whispered in a fairly sinister. The thing I love about this song is the fact that it refuses to end when you expect it to! During Kev's solo, you think he's about to stop (if I'd been soloing for that long I'd want a break), and then he comes out with something more, and then he does it again, before a crunchy repeating of the riff and the whole song stopping for a second, only for everyone to come back in and get the song going again!!
Absentia has a lovely acoustic intro, before the same riff is played with some very heavy power chords! "Remeber when you told me, you'd always be there for me?... Where are you?" begins the verse. This song probably has the best lyrics on the album, with a chorus ending with "These wounds have healed, but scars remain" . The song has a twin guitar solo as well as a brilliant call respond guitar section, Marc playing the riff and Kev repeating it, just octaves higher (sorry if the terminology's wrong, I don't have a Music GCSE)!
We all know the phrase, "If it ain't broke, don't fix it" And yet we have the fourth track, Council of War, which featured on the band's EP, rerecorded here, and it sounds better than the orignial, even though it didn't really need to be done. Still at least we don't have a case of the band being lazy and giving us remastered versions of songs from their EP (Minot, I'm talking to you)! The solo in this version just seems to be more confident, and Steve's drumming is more chaotic than it was in the original, which of course is a good thing.
One in the Chamber is another song that has an acoustic introduction, but this time it's combined with Kev's electric guitar and some lovely drum fills. The verse is sung with the acoustic and then built up with the electric, giving a sense of explosion as the chorus comes in, and then the bridge just gets you pumped for another of Kev's solo's. This is my favourite solo on the album, just cause it's so fast. The end's with the electric guitars fading out and the acoustic's fading in, which has been done really well by whoever was mixing the album, and ends with a chord that seems to happy for the song, yet somehow works.
Your head will be banging every time you hear Connection Lost, just cause it has a brilliantly heavy riff, and some very good lyrics that combine to make the best song on the album. The breakdown before the solo is excellent, particularity with Steve's drumming going from simple taps of the foot pedal to a beast being released. The final chorus and outro are great, especially when Marc whispers "Pride" into the mic with no one else playing (it's another shit yourself moment)! Ultimately, this is the one you'll want to hear live!!
Blood in the Veins finally gives bass player Martyn a chance to stand out, as he plays a crunchy riff before Steve's drum is banged a bit, and then in come the guitars to give it the heaviness we all want. Before the second verse we have a muted chord, giving a comical effect to an otherwise serious song. The song also gives Steve a stand out moment as he gets a drum solo, and of course he uses it well, giving us some of the best drumming on the album.
Final track Oblivious also appeared on the Blue Print EP, and again is better than the original. The strangest thing is, it seems rarer than the original (maybe that's why I like it so much!). The introduction solo is fucking amazing, as always, and as anyone who's heard the original will know, it's a brilliant song. The ending for the song, and so the album, couldn't be any better, with a classic metal ending as a crazy final solo is played while Steve tries to keep up with the drums.
As a little bonus we have the Dark World radio edit, for those of us who forgot to start the song before we entered the Laser Quest chamber!!!
It's easy to compare these guys to Metallica, after all Marc's voice is a uncannily similar to Hetfield's, but there's something different about Die No More ! Maybe it's the fact that they haven't hit the big time yet, or maybe it's the fact that they work so well musically, but anyhow, with this album the guys have made their marc (sorry, that's a terrible pun) on the world of metal, and nobody is going to be able to rub that mark off!!!
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