{"id":57330,"date":"2017-05-01T00:00:58","date_gmt":"2017-05-01T00:00:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/?p=57330"},"modified":"2017-06-17T17:46:15","modified_gmt":"2017-06-17T17:46:15","slug":"album-review-distillator-summoning-the-malicious","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/album-review-distillator-summoning-the-malicious\/","title":{"rendered":"DISTILLATOR – Summoning The Malicious (2017) | Album \/ EP Reviews @ Metal Forces Magazine"},"content":{"rendered":"

DISTILLATOR
Summoning The Malicious<\/strong><\/span>
\n\"\"
\nEmpire (2017)<\/span>
Rating: 7\/10<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

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Summoning The Malicious<\/em> is the third entry in the discography of Dutch trio Distillator. Since their birth in 2013 they\u2019ve sent forth an EP (EP 2013<\/em>), a debut full-length (2015\u2019s Revolutionary Cells<\/em><\/a>) and now this new product.<\/p>\n

Even if you\u2019ve not heard these thrashers before, you\u2019ll sort of know by the logo and cover art that these guys are part of the new wave of thrash metal. The band provide a fast and furious escapade featuring tight, speeding rhythms, nice, compact solos, rattling drums and no frills, but occasionally high-pitched vocal outburst, and catchy riffs all round.<\/p>\n

Summoning The Malicious<\/em> is not a brilliant record, but if you like straight down the line thrash metal that is rarely complex then I\u2019d certainly recommend this opus. Thankfully, Distillator are not a band that leans towards to the comedy thrash slant. Instead, we get an array of solid, infectious thrash melodies which bridge the gap between the British thrash scene of the 80s and the much mimicked Bay Area sound.<\/p>\n

Track titles such as \u2018Blinded By Chauvinism\u2019, \u2018Mechanized Existence\u2019 (my favourite track), and \u2018Algorithmic Citizenship\u2019 suggest a band displaying intelligence, and it\u2019s nice to hear some progressive elements creeping into play \u2013 especially with the diverse strains of the aforementioned \u2018Mechanized Existence\u2019. But it\u2019s nothing the mind can\u2019t cope with. My only gripe being the at times clicky drum sound and rather thin production, whereby the album just seems to lack any apparent weight. However, the trio more than makes up for this with their ability to keep the listener engaged.<\/p>\n

The varying tempos, as with the title track and the chugging \u2018Enter The Void\u2019, are a joy to behold. Again, I refer to \u2018Algorithmic Citizenship\u2019 for a prime example of complex tinges. Meanwhile, there\u2019s a nice bass trudge on \u2018Stature Of Liberty\u2019, which also provides a more melodic traditional metal hastiness.<\/p>\n

I don\u2019t personally have much call for the squealing end of the vocal spectrum which frontman Laurens H. seems insistent on throwing in at the end of many a sentence, but maybe he feels that by emitting such squeaks will separate his band from the droves? Even so, Distillator are quickly becoming masters of mid-paced thrashiness, and are rarely harmful even when they engage in pacier sections.<\/p>\n

I would still have preferred a dash more heaviness and darker mood. For instance, the suspenseful grooves of \u2018The King Of Kings\u2019 are to be admired \u2013 slow, pensive aggression passages which really add to the atmosphere \u2013 and there\u2019s some dazzling fret work on offer on closer \u2018Megalomania\u2019 with its hurtling drum, but it still all sounds rather tepid. However, let\u2019s not take too much away from the guys who\u2019ve crafted a comfortable, easy-on-the-ears thrash record that certainly harkens back to the 1980s, and for what it lacks in aggression is made up for with its philosophies and refreshing arrangements.<\/p>\n

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

DISTILLATORSummoning The Malicious Empire (2017)Rating: 7\/10 Summoning The Malicious is the third entry in the discography of Dutch trio Distillator. Since their birth in 2013 they\u2019ve sent forth an EP (EP 2013), a debut full-length (2015\u2019s Revolutionary Cells) and now this new product. Even if you\u2019ve not heard these thrashers before, you\u2019ll sort of know […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2395],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-57330","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-distillator"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57330","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=57330"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57330\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":57335,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57330\/revisions\/57335"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=57330"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=57330"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=57330"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}