Buy this album.

 

If you heard this band’s debut, Conspiracy in Mind, were pleasantly surprised and expected more of the same for the follow-up, you're in for what is the aural equivalent of early christmas presents, that long overdue birthday treat, diwali sweets, onam sadhya, a thanksgiving turkey, huge chocolate easter eggs and a playboy playmate all falling into your lap at the same time. And the funny thing is, your pants will probably be ruined in both scenarios.

There have been several coughs of ‘Nevermore clones’ for some time now, and I ought to address that. On the basis of Conspiracy in Mind alone, that label might have some truth. The bands do bridge the same genres – power and thrash metal, and the hybrid churns out trademarks like steamroller chugging riffs that slam into one another without a pause for breath, huge choruses that get great mileage without using the saccharine power metal formula – it’s all very recognisable. Plus, guitarist/vocalist Oddleif Stensland’s dissonant vocal style and his voice in general sound remniscient of Warrel Dane’s delivery, so there is a cause for comparison.

With Waves of Visual Decay however, Communic have stepped out of that shadow and become a much better band for it. There are still strong roots from where they came from, but the sound is now much vaster, and instead of having several cool parts fitted together to make a song, every section here dovetails brilliantly into the next, and before you know it, a nine-minute song has whisked past. Like, for the title track of Conspiracy in Mind (and quite a few other songs from that album), I couldn’t wait for the awesome chorus to come around and blow me away. On this album, I’m not waiting for anything because practically every damn second is kicking my ass in a big way.

There are a few things that add up to make this dramatic fleshing out of sound. For one, the understated keyboards manage to creep into the whole experience. Keyboards in metal usually feel like icing, liberally applied over the solid part of the song (unless we’re talking about Jordan Rudess, in which case it feels like “What the hell is going on here?!”), but here they come across as a subtle crust, never getting in the way but boosting the overall ambience whenever used.

And the guitar tone has just become divine – fat, full and still mean as hell. Listening to stuff like the title track and At Dewy Prime, you can see how much of a difference this makes when compared to older songs attempting the same style, like They Feed on our Fear.

As far as individual performances go, this is flawless in my opinion. Oddleif steals the show, his voice now a proficient instrument of its own. He shifts from soulful to aggressive, bottom end to a soaring scream in the blink of an eye. While the lyrics may be occasionally awkward, I really can’t care because for one, they do enough to get the theme across, and two, their most important job is setting up those brilliant vocal lines. The guitars are sublime, some of the best rhythm playing I’ve heard in a while, and while there’s no OTT wankery, the solos are far from slouchy. The rhythm section, made up of Erik Mortensen and Tor Atle Andersen are superbly locked in like a single organic unit, and though there are several great aggressive flourishes, I have to commend them more for knowing when to hold back and lay down the groove for the song instead of trying to grandstand over it. Great musical sense.

In general, Waves of Visual Decay is an album that gets better with every listen. It’s not quite easy listening for everyone at first, as the average song length is around 8 minutes. However, as you start getting familiar with the songs and picking up new stuff on each repeat spin, it starts soaking into your consciousness and running through it in your mind almost becomes an addiction. Just to give you an idea, My Bleeding Victim is the shortest song on the album at 6 and a half minutes, and probably the weakest. That’s a purely comparitive analysis though – on most artists’ records, it’d be a highlight for sure. But the fact that they can stack so many long, complex songs back to back and keep the listener’s interest at a peak most of the time is a glowing testament to this band’s ability.

If you're still going to make the common comparison, ironically enough, it's Communic that feels more like a Great Dane, all majestic and powerful, while current Nevermore is akin to a savage pitbull, ready to bite your ass off at a moment's notice. Nevermore have had the time to develop their sound into what it is today, and doing an outstanding job for the most part, but if Communic keep growing in this fashion and (inshallah) at this pace, it has to be just a matter of time before far more people sit up and take notice. As for me, I’ll just do all I can to spread the word. Buy this album.



Lineup:

Oddleif Stensland – Guitars/vocals
Erik Mortensen – Bass
Tor Atle Andersen - Drums

Year of release: 2006
Label: Nuclear Blast