SIEGE OF POWER
SIEGE OF POWER “This Is Tomorrow”
By Dr. Abner Mality
Named after a NAPALM DEATH song, SIEGE OF POWER is a head-on collision between members of AUTOPSY, ASPHYX and THANATOS and sure sounds like it. This is bruising old school death metal with an emphasis on catchy hooks.
It’s yet another project featuring the tortured vocals of AUTOPSY’s Chris Reifert, a very busy man these days. The singing is rough and raw, but just a bit more polished than the sick vomitings he uses on AUTOPSY. As for the music, considering the other members are veterans of ASPHYX, HAIL OF BULLETS and GRAND SUPREME BLOOD COURT, there are not too many surprises. The first few songs like ‘Force Fed Fear”, “Sinister Christians” and “Zero Containment” blast away with the bone-breaking yet easy to get into riffs of those bands. “Scavengers” has ASPHYX written all over it in big bloody capital letters.
Then with “Ghost of Humanity” and “As The World Crumbles”, the band takes a surprising detour into doomier and more melodic territory. The songs are still heavy but don’t have the sheer force of the early tracks. And the album doesn’t really recover the momentum. “The Devil’s Grasp” and “No Salvation” barrel away, but the tunes are a moodier, somewhat more introspective kind of death metal while retaining power. The album ends on its weakest note with the title track, which just kind of peters out and doesn’t provide the shattering climax this album deserves.
Fans of ASPHYX, HAIL OF BULLETS and BOLT THROWER should dig SIEGE OF POWER the most, but I think this band can achieve better yet.