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Thy Art Is Murder - Holy War review



Reviewer:
7.2

95 users:
7.36
Band: Thy Art Is Murder
Album: Holy War
Release date: June 2015


01. Absolute Genocide
02. Light Bearer
03. Holy War
04. Coffin Dragger
05. Fur And Claw
06. Deliver Us To Evil
07. Emptiness
08. Violent Reckoning
09. Child Of Sorrow
10. Naked And Cold
11. Vengeance

Everyone stop reproducing.

And come listen to the new Thy Art Is Murder with me, we'll build a giant sofa fort and live in it. We'll call it "Brutalia". "Brutalia" sounds good right? Especially when you know what Thy Art Is Murder is capable of. Even if, in all honesty, it would be a bit of false advertising: "Bitternessland" would be more appropriate. We just suck so much as a species that even the Australian deathcore ambassadors are too tired of our shit. I know I'm not making any sense, I'll explain later.

For the TAIM-noobs, anything associated to their name is usually a non-stop deluge of brutal, technical, razor-sharp deathcore supported by vocals that would make a T-Rex jealous. D.T. Metal before me already noticed a similarity with Decapitated, and I would even go as far as saying that TAIM could be, or could have been until now, the deathcore equivalent of the aforementioned Polish band. Although, if I wanted to be less abstract in my description of what these people sound like, the simple mention of the excellent Carnifex would have sufficed. I just like to make things complicated sometimes.

One look at the daring alternative cover art of Holy War gives you an idea of the shift in atmosphere and style I was talking about. Those of you who have enjoyed their previous effort Hate - I sure did - will notice some changes such as less staccato and technical escapades, less "melody", a slower general pace, and much darker atmosphere - you know, to go with the even bleaker days that are ahead of us. There is an overall decrease in the level of pure heaviness, which is compensated by the fact this album just oozes bitterness and a certain feeling of impending doom. However, don't get me wrong, this release isn't less of a monster, it's just a different monster. Instead of slowly beating you to death with a thousand blows, it kills you in a couple of well-placed attacks, Dark Souls II-like. Do you understand the whole "bitternessland" vs "brutalia" nonsense now?

Third time is a charm they say, and it's very true in this case. This album numero tres shows a major growth in terms of songwriting, even if the structure of the opus is the same: ten tracks that are neither too short nor too long, that amount to a total of almost forty minutes. Everything is done in order to make the listener enjoy the songs and not focus on anything boring to talk about, like production. That's what I love: moderation in even one of the most extreme genres around, it shows humility and respect for the listener's nerves.

All in all, if you haven't heard Hate, or the début The Adversary, this isn't a bad place to start. There is no bad place to start anyway. Just start already. If you allow me to use a sexist joke to illustrate my point, Thy Art Is Murder's discography is similar to a woman's mood swings during her periods. It's never the same kind of angry, but it always comes from a "THIS SUCKS SO MUCH I WANNA FUCK SHIT UP" kinda place.


Perfect soundtrack for a pillow fight, amirite?




Rating breakdown
Performance: 8
Songwriting: 7
Originality: 5
Production: 8

Written by Ilham | 05.07.2015




Comments

Comments: 11   Visited by: 328 users
05.07.2015 - 22:43
X-Ray Rod
Skandino
Loved the review. I'm a 10 mins in and loving it so much! I knew them by name only but never gave them a listen. This is going to change now.
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Written by BloodTears on 19.08.2011 at 18:29
Like you could kiss my ass
Written by Milena on 20.06.2012 at 10:49
Rod, let me love you.
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06.07.2015 - 00:33
Rating: 7
LeKiwi
High Fist Prog
Was suspicious, but two tracks in and I'm quite enjoying it! Cheers for the nice review
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06.07.2015 - 00:43
Uldreth

This sounded more similiar to The Adversary for me than Hate, at least on glancing listens. Will need to check this more, but TAIM has always been consistently good, so I doubt I'd get disappointed. Nice review too, made me laugh .
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06.07.2015 - 01:17
Rating: 7
Ilham
Giant robot
Written by X-Ray Rod on 05.07.2015 at 22:43

Loved the review. I'm a 10 mins in and loving it so much! I knew them by name only but never gave them a listen. This is going to change now.

Thanks! Oh I wouldn't have imagined you'd like it as much. Glad to be of help!

Written by LeKiwi on 06.07.2015 at 00:33

Was suspicious, but two tracks in and I'm quite enjoying it! Cheers for the nice review

You keep surprising me Kiwi, I'm very happy to hear about that . And thanks!

Written by Uldreth on 06.07.2015 at 00:43

This sounded more similiar to The Adversary for me than Hate, at least on glancing listens. Will need to check this more, but TAIM has always been consistently good, so I doubt I'd get disappointed. Nice review too, made me laugh .

Yeah I don't disagree, the stripped down nature of it makes it closer to the début than Hate, but it made sense to comapre albums that are chronologically close, at least in my mind. I'm sure you'll like it, I don't see any major thing that could turn you off. Happy I could make your abs stronger !
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06.07.2015 - 07:52
X-Ray Rod
Skandino
Written by Ilham on 06.07.2015 at 01:17

Written by X-Ray Rod on 05.07.2015 at 22:43

Loved the review. I'm a 10 mins in and loving it so much! I knew them by name only but never gave them a listen. This is going to change now.

Thanks! Oh I wouldn't have imagined you'd like it as much. Glad to be of help!


I like deathcore and when it comes to core stuff we seem to agree more often than not and when it comes to ratings... I tend to go 0,5 or a full point above your opinion because I'm a fanboy of everything(?).
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Written by BloodTears on 19.08.2011 at 18:29
Like you could kiss my ass
Written by Milena on 20.06.2012 at 10:49
Rod, let me love you.
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06.07.2015 - 14:23
GT
Coffee!!
Never been a big fan of their vocals, but the music is exellent. Would probably just have to give them more listens to get into the vocals properly.
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Dreams are made so we don't get bored when we sleep
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06.07.2015 - 18:45
Bad English
Tage Westerlund
Written by GT on 06.07.2015 at 14:23

Never been a big fan of their vocals, but the music is exellent. Would probably just have to give them more listens to get into the vocals properly.


I didn't know you visiting this site, nice surprise
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Life is to short for LOVE, there is many great things to do online !!!

Stormtroopers of Death - ''Speak English or Die''
apos;'
[image]
I better die, because I never will learn speek english, so I choose dieing
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07.07.2015 - 08:00
-Morbid-

Saw something positive for this album elsewhere but this nice review pushed it further up my list of stuff to check out.

Also perhaps the first time I've seen Carnifex called "excellent" by anyone or anything other than one of those shiny stickers on the cover that has name-drops and positive promo stuff on it.
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07.07.2015 - 13:17
Rating: 7
Ilham
Giant robot
Written by -Morbid- on 07.07.2015 at 08:00

Also perhaps the first time I've seen Carnifex called "excellent" by anyone or anything other than one of those shiny stickers on the cover that has name-drops and positive promo stuff on it.

What's wrong with Carnifex? Is there some kind of stigma attached to that name?

Edit: after some googling, apparently there is. I only found out about the band last year. I'm not one to care about that. I already review deathcore on a site that doesn't give a shit about the genre.
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07.07.2015 - 14:31
-Morbid-

Written by Ilham on 07.07.2015 at 13:17

What's wrong with Carnifex? Is there some kind of stigma attached to that name?

Edit: after some googling, apparently there is. I only found out about the band last year. I'm not one to care about that. I already review deathcore on a site that doesn't give a shit about the genre.

Wasn't meaning to imply there was something wrong with them, they are enjoyable enough live and I have a few of their albums (although they don't see a whole lot of play, never really hooked me). It was just an observation, usually I only see a few deathcore bands (Despised Icon, ASP, Animosity, and a few others) receive any praise on dedicated metal sites.

I quite enjoy several deathcore acts so I like seeing reviews for albums in the genre. I like seeing that some bands are sticking with it instead of all turning into technical death metal acts (even though I really like tech death too).
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07.07.2015 - 14:50
Rating: 7
Ilham
Giant robot
Written by -Morbid- on 07.07.2015 at 14:31

Wasn't meaning to imply there was something wrong with them, they are enjoyable enough live and I have a few of their albums (although they don't see a whole lot of play, never really hooked me). It was just an observation, usually I only see a few deathcore bands (Despised Icon, ASP, Animosity, and a few others) receive any praise on dedicated metal sites.

I quite enjoy several deathcore acts so I like seeing reviews for albums in the genre. I like seeing that some bands are sticking with it instead of all turning into technical death metal acts (even though I really like tech death too).

Oh okay, it's all good.

Yeah, ever since getting in this whole thing, I noticed some bands are spared the "deathcore suxxx" treatment, and some others just can't get a break no matter how good they get with time.

I'm confident you'll enjoy this at least a bit then. You'll see more of this kind of reviews in the future, if I'm still around .
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