IMBALANCE – Burial Of Consciousness

Like Dolly Duck, I love surprises. And this four-track demo was definitely a surprise. Imbalance impress very much with their heavy, riff-oriented and relatively complex Metal, and they are definitely among the more promising acts I’ve heard this year. All four of the tracks on this recording are of a high standard, filled with catchy grooves and heavy riffs, while still standing strong as whole songs, and not just riffs played in succession.

In terms of influences, the band themselves mention Metallica, Slayer, Sepultura, and VoiVod, and at least the first three gives a hint about what style these Inhabitants Of Oslo portray.

The opener and title track is an uptempo and relatively brutal offering, but although the main part (the “verse” or whatever) is fast, there are enough tempo changes to keep the listeners’ interest up. The riffing is class A indeed, with a very effective use of open strings to spice up the mostly low-key grooves. It’s also entertaining how the bass interacts with the guitar riffs.

“Deprivation” starts of slow but speeds up to a mid-tempo groove after the intro, where guitarist Anders again makes very good use of open strings. He also delivers a cool John Petrucci-inspired solo on this track. This is also the track where singer (and bassist) Harald sounds the best.

“Ride the Blades of the Man-Eater” has to be nominated when the “Title of the Year” awards are up, and the song itself is not bad either. Drummer Welle is pretty upfront in the mix here, with some double bass beats, fast fills and snare drum grooves. After a relatively fast opening, this track calms down with the guitar solo, before it speeds up again with a very headbanging-friendly part. All in all, this is probably the most brutal track off the album.

“Turn From My Time” reminds me a bit of Nevermore, and that’s never a bad thing. I can’t help but jump around air-guitar crazy when listening to this, and that pretty much sums it all up. This song, and this EP as a whole, grooves like lemon-marinated cow shit, and I can’t do anything but recommend this to anyone into this style of Metal. Someone sign these guys!!!