GRAVE HUMAN GENUINE

Interesting that Kristoffer Gildenlow formerly of PAIN OF SALVATION guests as the bass player on this record. Interesting because there are less POS references on this one compared to the "Existence" album. The band thanks POS as well as DEAD SOUL TRIBE among others in the liner notes. This is an excellent recording, it's dark and heavy with lots of atmosphere. It doesn't measure up at all to the great concept album "Existence" in my opinion. That one just blew me away with the power,emotion and the lyrics.

"Stampede" opens with a dark atmosphere that is broken by heavy drums, bass and guitar. It calms right down before 2 1/2 minutes with some piano coming and going. "Flies In Amber" is extremely heavy early as synths come in. Guitar arrives before it settles down with reserved vocals. A nice heavy sound continues. Death vocals after 2 1/2 minutes which are contrasted with the reserved ones. The drummer is beating the hell out of his kit. Love the heaviness after 4 1/2 minutes. Blistering guitar 8 minutes in as synths play along. Great track. "Thornchild" opens with fragile vocals. Not a fan. Fortunately they are flattened by a wall of sound a minute in. Vocals are back but sound a little flat for some reason. This is a good mid-paced tune with background synths. Fat bass 4 1/2 minutes in with tribal-like percussion. I really like the guitar 6 1/2 minutes in.

"Rapid Eyes Moment" sounds familiar. Gentle guitar to open as other sounds are added. It is fairly pastoral as drums arrive 2 minutes in. Reserved vocals a minute later. I like the background synths. Before 4 1/2 minutes the heaviness arrives and it sounds incredible. It changes late to a percussion / electronic melody as it blends into the next song "Amphibian Halo".This one features dark piano sounds as percussion and electronics continue. Cool sound. Synths join in. We get some power 1 1/2 minutes in with sinister vocals to follow. This sounds amazing ! "The Chameleon Defect" opens with a light but catchy melody that is ruined by a long blast of noise. The annoying noise is back 2 1/2 minutes in. It's not often that I turn my music down, but for this i'll make an exception. The last 2 minutes of the song are tasteful though. "Free Of You" is a mellow track with fragile vocals coming in after a minute. Drums follow. The guitar 2 1/2 minutes in is the highlight for me. The vocals just don't do a lot for me on this one at times. A brighter sound 4 minutes in. It's ok I guess.

"Papillion" features the I Should Have Studied Mathematics String Quartet. 2 violins, a viola and a cello. Spoken words to start before vocals arrive 2 minutes in. Heaviness thankfully comes in right after the soft vocals. Angry vocals 4 1/2 minutes in. There is about 1 1/2 minutes of dead silence before soft vocals and piano come in. I waited for this !

I think 4 stars is fair because this has some killer songs, but it's a small 4 stars in my opinion because the last three songs are pretty weak, especially when compared to the earlier ones.