Album Review: Statement – Sinister Thing
Reviewed by Carl Black
We've all heard of bands starting off hardcore and heavy and then switching at some point during their career possibly round the fifth album (can you guess which band I'm thinking about) to cash in on the commercial trend of the time and to elongate their career and play to the biggest crowds available.
Nothing wrong with this as it maximises their career and as one gentleman once said “we have something that we want to say, we can't keep saying it the same way or to the limited number of people that we want to say it to”. Statement have gone the other way around.
They started off their career by assembling a notable if not massive following along the way, playing melodic metal. This time round the Danish band have decided to maximise the heaviness. Not really following any particular trend or cashing in or elongating their career but I'm interested to find out exactly how abandoning their begins of softer, and commercial metal, affects their fans who are expecting one thing and all of a sudden are being confronted with a heavy juggernaut sound that's completely out their comfort zone.
The fact is that hardcore Statement fans don't need to worry too much. There's no blast beats per say, they haven't gone Napalm Death. A few double bass drummings here and there and there's a chuggier guitar sound than on previous albums. The singing is still melodic, there's no real growls or nu-metal overtones. So much of what they have put down already is still very relevant and prevalent.
The album is very mid paced. Most songs have a minimalist verse both in riff and vocal, that then bursts with colour during the lighter chorus. Some very modern, tightly played metal plays out the album. It lacks variation but bobs along nicely.
Putting it bluntly, Statement have gone safe heavy. Fans will like this kind of heaviness anyway. If you're looking for a ultra thrash stomping grind sound you will be disappointed. But if Statement catch this right and if they continue developing this lost area between heavier Nickelback and more commercial Metallica, I think they could pick up a sizable amount of fans which satisfies both sides. Keep working on it, keep working on adapting that sound to carve out something unique. It just proves heaviness in music can go both ways, from light to heavy or from heavy to light.
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