California's Armed for Apocalypse stand at an interesting crossroads between the thick, volcanic guitars which define 'sludge metal', and just about every annoying element of metalcore or Pantera-style groove metal that you could conceive. Into this they inject a little melody which often takes you unexpectedly and makes for most of the better moments on the disc. I found the album frustrating, because every moment I enjoyed was quickly counterbalanced by shitty chug-a-long meathead moshcore 101.Seriously. It's like prospecting a river, sifting through your pan to find those little bits of gold which you know are coming. "Fists of God" starts off like a boring Meshuggah clone...then tears into this kick ass melodic groove rhythm. "Hero Complex" is slow and doomy, then picks up into a Down-like groove metal with awful metalcore vocals. "A Failure" is thrashcore with some nice bridge melodies and gangshouts. "Torch Light Search for the Dead" has walls of lurching mosh ripe for the fratboy pit. Speaking of Down, the album has a cover of "Temptation's Wings" hidden at the end. The mix sounds monolithic, with crushing guitar tones and vocals all over the place. I want to sleep with 50% of this record, kill the other half, and marry none of it.
Highlights: A Failure, Torch Light Search for the Dead
Verdict: Indifference [5/10]
http://www.myspace.com/armedforapocalypsesludge
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