Amaranthe – “Massive Addictive”

Coalescing two dramatically opposing flavours of hard rock/metal, Sweden’s Amaranthe have developed a genuinely original take on the genre.

With their third album Massive Addictive, the Scandanavian sextet have continued the suprising union of polished stadium rock with death metal, throwing in splashes of industrial for good measure.

At times it is akin listening to two seperate bands jostling for superiority. One minute the dual “clean” vocalists Jake E and Elize Ryd are soaring together harmoniously before, in the blink of an eye, the track is gatecrashed by the Sepultura inspired “harsh” vocals of Henrick Englund. It feels a bit like the singer from the death metal band in the studio next door invited himself in for a cameo. Whilst it is an unorthodox formula it is one that works and puts the band in a category of their own.

The vocal interplay takes immediate effect in the appropriately explosive opener ‘Dynamite‘ and lead single ‘Drop Dead Cynical‘.

https://soundcloud.com/landsharkpromotion/amaranthe-drop-dead-cynical

The dexterous fingers of keyboardist Olof Morck do the talking in ‘Trinity‘, completing a trio of frenzied tracks to get the record up and running. The industrial component rears it’s cranium in the title track ‘Massive Addictive‘ and ‘Digital World‘, the latter featuring Englund violently barking at us to “start a revolution now!” It would take a brazen individual to refuse.

Wedged in amongst all the chaos are a couple of moments designed to get the lighters in the air. ‘True‘ and ‘Over And Done‘ are definitely at the cheesier end of the spectrum, and whilst these piano ballads are good for a tempo shift they are possibly a little too soft for the record. The band does make amends shortly after with the cracking ‘Danger Zone‘, a bustling onslaught that incorporates a vocal style that could well be classified as death-hop.

Amaranthe are definitely onto something here. With their schitzophrenic approach to metal they will cause some head scratching but for those looking for something both catchy and brutal, then look no further.

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Gavin Stocker

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Outside of Across The Ocean Gavin Stocker writes, records and performs music under the moniker of P Truck.

He can also be found clinging to his youth on a skateboard or wandering aimlessly through the bush.