Band:	Calmsite
Album:	The Erector
Style:	Melodic death metal, Stoner metal
Release date:	July 2004
A review by:	KwonVerge

01. Recharger
02. Melting The Frost
03. Asskin
04. Stripped Stiff
05. Payment In Full
06. Mudwhip
07. Skinning Service
08. Dienasty
09. Concrete Prayer
10. Ashtrayman

Well o well, what we got here!? Calmsite from Finland and "The Erector", their debut album! I had reviewed their latest release, "Elvisdeath", and I really had enjoyed this album in which they were incorporating elements from the new wave of Swedish death metal scene and Motorhead in a really good way. Yet, their debut album is something like Motorhead in a more upbeat and powerful way with husky vocals and in my opinion they are doing it really well!

"The Erector" is a heavy album, really groovy and powerful, upbeat with a drunken feeling in it, evoking a party-like atmosphere in the air filled with beers and alcohol. The guitar riffing is really heavy, up-tempo and turning to inspired yet simplistic solos whenever they are needed making the compositions a bit more complex. The distortion used on the guitars is the ideal for such an album, it's heavy and dirty, just like it has to be; yet, a more melodic approach at times, like on "Concrete Prayer" and "Ashtrayan", is always welcome to break the "monotony" of the songs in the way they flow. The rhythm section is really powerful and groovy, keeping the up-tempo feeling of the compositions and lending the ideal groove to them, whereas the vocals complete the sound of the band with their husky accent having something of ex Sentenced's Taneli Jarva, really good vocal interpretation. Something different is part of the vocal lines on "Ashtrayan" that are melodic with a sense of aggression in them and they are in the vein of Metallica's James Hetfield.

The album consists of 10 compositions and lasts somewhere around 37 minutes, it's not lengthy as you all can see and in this very specific situation it's something positive since the album would bore the listener otherwise. As I said above the Motorhead references are intense in the album with Motorhead being the main influence, whereas some NWOSDM references are present here and then, but they are not so many.

All in all, if you're searching for a heavy album pleasant to the ear and filled with the ideal feeling and groove then Calmsite's "The Erector" is an album for you.