Zitat:I had heard the tracks Power Spirit and Death Tribe (unfortunately not on the album) on the band”™s Myspace and was very excited when I received Scott”™s copy of Children”™s “Hard Times Hanging At The End Of The World”. Through Advanced Mind Control”™s spacey intro to the final chord of Time Is The Living, Children offers a consistent and yet ever-changing musical attack, with all the fury and finesse of hardcore punk and speed metal without sacrificing a definite sixties prog vibe. While I can definitely smell the presence of some other scenes and other bands in their sound, Children is pretty original. The riffs don”™t get stale and pound and pulse with the intensity of a meteor storm. The solos are well-placed and usually overlap the track”™s progressing riffs, so the song never has to take a “break” to allow for a blistering solo section. And while there are definitely some blistering, balls-out fast solos, a lot of solos are slow and allowed to build melodically to a climax. The album is spectacularly well EQ”™d (at least for my audio setup), with guitars, vocals and drums all being audible and existing with presence, threat and destructive power at all times. Bass was definitely present, but could have been closer to the forefront of the recordings.

I”™ve had to listen to “Hard Times Hanging At The End Of The World” multiple times to be sure that I wasn”™t leaving anything out. For the most part, it isn”™t particularly awash in complexity, but still has plenty of intricacies that will appeal to perhaps even learned music theorists. A massively overlooked component of metal music is harmony. A good sense of harmony can cause many a metal fan to listen to a record many times without tiring of it”¦ I know plenty of metal fans that will never tire of Opeth”™s “Orchid”, for example. Children still offer direct, no bullshit and near-always in your face thrash metal, but there is still plenty of subtle harmony work”¦ From the dissonant lead work in the beginning of Advanced Mind Control to some of the thrashing sections in Power Spirit to Hard Times Hanging At The End Of The World, the album has excellent and utterly seductive use of harmony to keep listener attention at every turn. But this subtlety doesn”™t at all cloud the purpose of this album: A hurricane of balls-out, world-destroying thrash with some prog and stoner elements thrown in for good measure. How do you classify this band? At the end of the day, I”™m going to have to resort to the classic cop out myself, and call it “excellent metal music”. It”™s deceptive – both simple and direct, and fiendishly subtle.

So what don”™t I like? Mostly stylistic things. I was never much of a hardcore fan, so I find it hard to decipher the lyric of any given song, although they definitely add to the instrumental tracks anyway. A few more progressive elements definitely wouldn”™t have gone amiss either, but that”™s about all I can think of – this album has made me a convert, if not missionary, to its cause.

If you like 70s hard rock, 80s speed/thrash, stoner and progressive metal, you will find this album to be an excellent acquisition. As a fan of all of the above genres, it”™s quite pleasing to my ears. I eagerly anticipate more excellent releases from Children - I will most certainly keep an eye on these guys in the future.

Track-by-track:

1. With Advanced Mind Control (9:41), a spacey, phasing intro gives way to a riff accompanied by wonderfully dissonant lead work. Towards the end, it thrashes hypnotically before slowing down to allow some straight, heavy riffing to set in.
2. Nuclear Bummer (7:15) thrashes harder than a lot of thrash revivalists, and has Children”™s trademark masterful musicianship to accompany the balls-out attitude.
3. Power Spirit (5:31) has some of the most aggressive vocals on the album, and has an extremely tongue-in-cheek video, reminding the listener that despite the serious musicianship and skill these gentlemen possess, it”™s all for fun. And of course, a direct reference to Black Sabbath shouldn”™t go without mention (Play Black Sabbath/In our rooms!). The video is visible here.
4. The Title Track (2:12) begins with some Spanish guitar work, and builds, with a couple harmony tracks gradually layered on. Children isn”™t just about thrashing, and they continue to showcase their ability, not only to write and perform, but to segue”¦ The title track more or less serves as an intro for the next one, Subterranean Cities, which actually reminds me a bit of the last album I reviewed, Toxic Holocaust”™s ”¦An Overdose of Death. A very similar retro-thrash sensibility permeates the track, but at the same time, the track is imbued with subtlety and finesse that many thrash revivalists fail to consider. One of the hardest rocking tracks on the album by far, with a great, chunky rhythm audible at all times. There is a maniacal, yet beautiful build up to some fantastic leads a little past the five-minute mark. A very memorable track.
5. The final track, Time Is The Living (9:38), is a great conclusion to the album. This beast is both furious and speedy, but willing to slow down for some great lead work and dual guitar harmony. It ends with some heavily manipulated feedback.

(30.10.2008, 10:58)padrak schrieb: Auch hier muss ich nach dem Exodus Thread darauf hinweisen, dass ich mir das Album mit einer Produktion von 1989 nie im Leben gekauft hätte. 80s Thrash im modernen Soundgewand, so muss das sein.