{"id":18279,"date":"2014-02-17T00:00:56","date_gmt":"2014-02-17T00:00:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/?p=18279"},"modified":"2014-04-09T14:30:27","modified_gmt":"2014-04-09T14:30:27","slug":"album-review-kayser-read-your-enemy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/album-review-kayser-read-your-enemy\/","title":{"rendered":"KAYSER – Read Your Enemy (2014) | Album \/ EP Reviews @ Metal Forces Magazine"},"content":{"rendered":"

KAYSER
\nRead Your Enemy<\/strong><\/span>
\n\"\"
\nListenable (2014)<\/span>
\nRating: 6.5\/10<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

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Swedish thrashers Kayser are back with their third studio opus, and it\u2019s about time too. It\u2019s been eight years since 2006\u2019s Frame The World… Hang It On The Wall<\/em> opus. While that particular record was a decent affair, the quintet have been all too inconsistent since 2005\u2019s half-hearted debut Kaiserhof<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Kayser very much deal in melodic thrash and have had a stable line-up from 2006 onwards, which is always a good thing for a band that wishes to reach their ultimate goal of consistency within their music. The outfit is fronted by former Spiritual Beggars man Christian \u201cSpice\u201d Sj\u00f6strand, and he is flanked by axemen Jokke Pettersson and Mattias \u201cSwaney\u201d Svensson, while Emil \u201cBiff\u201d Sandin handles bass and Bob Ruben hits the skins.<\/p>\n

The first impression of Read Your Enemy<\/em> is that Kayser is now an accomplished act who rely on sturdy, tight musicianship based around weighty riffs and thumping drums. Opener \u2018Bark And Bow\u2019 is an excellent track, which pretty much sums up the Kayser sound in that it\u2019s well constructed, based around a framework of strong solos and melodies and some truly rattling riffs. While Sj\u00f6strand is more than an adequate vocalist, there are times when the sneer lacks conviction, meaning that Kayser can be found wanting when it comes to conviction on the whole.<\/p>\n

\u2018Bring Out The Clown\u2019 is pure, full-throttle blistering thrash but there is an air of the tepid as the band gallop along, although the fury is something akin to the vehemence churned out regularly in the current thrash scene. I\u2019m also reminded of Slayer<\/a>, but more so circa the American\u2019s Diabolus In Musica<\/em><\/a> stage (1998) where the music, although heavy, remained a tad cold and bereft of the usual bite. Even so, Kayser are efficient at what they do, combining hard-edged metallic grooves (\u2018I\u2019ll Deny You\u2019) and chugging persistency (\u2018He Knows Your Secrets\u2019).<\/p>\n

The guitar is most certainly king when it comes to this 12-track affair, but where the band seem more comfortable is out of the thrashier zone in fact. Without a shadow of a doubt the best track on the opus is \u2018Dreams Bent Clockwise\u2019, which for all of its aggression in the guitar exists more in the fashion of traditional metal, especially with the ascending chorus and steel attack that has more in common with classic Judas Priest.<\/p>\n

The title track is equally stirring with its juddering rhythms and those angst-ridden vocals, while the classic approach of \u2018Roll The Dice\u2019 and closer \u2018The Fake Rose\u2019 mean that Read Your Enemy<\/em> is a solid third instalment from these Swedish metallers who have done well to avoid the usual chainsaw death metal leanings.<\/p>\n

While this album is a ride worth taking, it nonetheless could be construed that it\u2019s one that can be a touch uneventful at times.<\/p>\n

Neil Arnold<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

KAYSER Read Your Enemy Listenable (2014) Rating: 6.5\/10 Swedish thrashers Kayser are back with their third studio opus, and it\u2019s about time too. It\u2019s been eight years since 2006\u2019s Frame The World… Hang It On The Wall opus. While that particular record was a decent affair, the quintet have been all too inconsistent since 2005\u2019s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24,1162],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18279","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-album-ep-reviews","category-kayser"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18279","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18279"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18279\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18320,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18279\/revisions\/18320"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18279"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18279"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18279"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}