BALANCE INTERRUPTION: "Era II: Deserts of Ashes"

The recent release batch from the Finnish black metal label Hammer of Hate derivated a bit from their common routine. While the new Sacrilegious Impalement was of course a logical release, Desolate Shrine offered old school death metal, and Balance Interruption here provides their second industrial black metal full-length entitled Era II: Deserts of Ashes. Like Evangelvm's debut from last year, Balance Interruption hails from Eastern Europe, another rather new area in the label's history after the focus on Finnish bands.

Now, to the meat. Era II: Deserts of Ashes will not appeal to the fans of the most old school of metals. This album is a machinery where drums are executed with ultimate precision in a polished soundscape while guitars provide either harsher approach amidst blasting or somewhat slower discordant menace. Vocals are quite general screaming and growling though at times it turns into a robot-like voice. The band's instrumentation is handled very well so that there's definitely no question of their professional musicianship, hence the modern black metal here crushes and convinces.

What then comes to the industrial elements, well, it's very much up to the listener, and I'd consider myself among those who really don't like it. Industrial can be done greatly within the borders of black metal but too often I can not take some techno beats seriously amidst the metal, and I'm getting similar feelings of embarrassment when the circus of the beginning of "Chaos Reign" begins. Luckily, Balance Interruption keeps the industrial elements in minor role for the most part so that the album is overall an enjoyable ride throughout.

Combining the not-that-awesome industrial with the compositional work that doesn't exactly shine with innovation nor uniqueness, Era II: Deserts of Ashes isn't what I prefer to listen to, but I've heard a lot worse efforts in the field as well. Plus, the band knows when to stop as the album runs for a fitting length of 37 minutes, never really boring the listener on the go. If you have a little softer spot for industrial in your metal, you may add a star or more to my rating.

2.5 / 5