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TITANS EVE
Life Apocalypse

Titans Eve Music (2012)
Rating: 9/10

A year and half after its release, I’m still shocked that Titans Eve’s debut album, The Divine Equal (2010), didn’t turn more heads than it did. The band is using the momentum gained though to launch a cutthroat new album entitled Life Apocalypse. A fitting title for a 2012 thrash album, the boys from Canada up their game on this one by keeping the pace musically and taking their lyrical concepts to even deeper places than before.

Opening with an acoustic piece to provide ambience (the calm before the storm?), the band quickly lets loose with the destructive speed of ‘Destined To Die’ and ‘Road To Ruin’. The vocals are gruffer but also more heavy on the reverb, which reminds me a lot of what Chuck Billy did on a lot of the early Testament records, although this doesn’t necessarily sound like Billy. ‘Road To Ruin’ grinds a little more than its predecessor but it’s the astounding bass work that really catches your attention on this one. Jesse Hord really plays his ass off on this track!

The title track is a non-stop pummeling that just grinds and grinds until it hits one of the best choruses ever. Vocalist Brian Gamblin leads the masses as he sings “C’mon! We’re at the end! We chose our way alone!”. I can almost see him raising his palms like he is gripping the sky as thousands sing along. It’s a truly metal moment that any fan of the genre will immediately melt upon hearing.

‘Hollow Gods’ is a little more in-your-face and a little less anthemic, exploding in all the right places. While ‘The Void’ takes the album out in a thrash-tastic way as the guitars chug and groan their way along in between leads.

The only real complaint I have with this album is that the phrasing of the vocals is a little too much the same in each song. It kind of reminds me of what Sammy Hagar (ex-Van Halen / Chickenfoot) does phrasing wise, singing a few words at a time and breaking it up wherever the break happens to happen. With a little more dynamic vocals overall, this album could be a ten. That’s not much of a complaint though considering what these guys manage to pull off.

The Divine Equal is one of my favourite metal albums ever and I fully expected a sophomore slump on Life Apocalypse. Thankfully, Titans Eve manage to avoid all the sophomore pitfalls and craft something very much the same yet surprisingly deeper.

Mark Fisher

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