Closer-A darker kind of salvation

Pulverized
2008

At the end of 2005 Closer rose from the ashes of Withered, they left previous setbacks behind and decided to make a fresh start under a new name. The style used here is heavy, technical music with a mix of thrash, death, black metal and even modern metal sounds. The playing is sharp and the vocals manage to be both smooth and aggressive depending on what is needed. The pace flows nicely and they do an admirable job of blending several sounds together. Yet despite all of that I just couldn't get into the album for some reason. I went back and listened again in attempt to figure it out. The technical ability is there and the production is slick, but there just were not enough hooks to really make this album special. I can't deny that the playing is well done, but the energy level is more restrained than it needed to be. I think they would begin to get into some groove oriented parts, but then they would move on too quickly. I think they more concerned with diversity than they were with building momentum. While that's certainly their prerogative it didn't help the overall feel of the album as much as it could have. They do alright at conveying emotion but again I think they were more concerned with the technical side and that's what came across first. "A darker kind of salvation" is a decent outing, but it lacks in the areas that would cause me to want to listen to it repeatedly.