CLAW "Negativity Through Solitude" (Blackwinds Production)
CLAW's first album after a couple of rehearsals and demos finally being released to the masses, after numerous delays and slight mishaps. Well, with a band that preaches everything negative, that is to be expected I think. Currently the better known black Metal bands of Malaysia due to the nationwide exposure on a local so-called 'righteous' magazine (they're on the cover, yes, but not for an intended coverage), you can expect everything that's being shown on their previous outputs in "Negativity Through Solitude". Surging, sweeping black Metal hymns more akin to Finnish extreme black Metal hordes (Sargeist, Satanic Warmaster, Baptism, Behexen, you name it) and a bit of that Nordic side. Arguably the most 'un-local' of the local black Metal bands for now, period, which is a good sign too. Nothing to babble about their music, it is unapologetically true to the coffin black Metal cravings without any pseudo weird shit with great songwriting talent. But maybe, and I do wish, that the drums could be more monotonous in the right way, it will suits the way they approach their compositions better. Sometimes that rolling breaks emerges too often that in some ways disturb the climaxing nature of the songs. Some clever plays with the cymbals would be more than enough and surely works even better. The mixing sounds a bit too much 'mp3' to my abused ears too, if you know what I'm saying. Coupled that with some simplistic DIY packaging that doesn't justify the potential of this damned album. Admittedly, the album will be released on cassette tape format soon, with different cover artwork and most importantly, with the mix that's being touted as 'how it was meant to be', so let's just hope all will fall into the right places this time. I awaits the more deserving presentation of this album, and let's see how much more it could surprise me then.
