System Annihilated - Furor

So, the wheel keeps turning and the evolution of heavy music keeps progressing. One arm of the evolution that keeps growing is Sweden's. Such is the history and influence that the country's innovators posses, they keep spawning new bands like rats breeding (in a good way). System Annihilated are one such band. They hail from Umea and play an amalgamation of death/progressive metal with hardcore touches thrown in. The band started in 2009 at quite an early age and Furor is their debut album. It was released earlier this year through Discouraged Records.

Tracklist:-

1.  This Apocalypse
2. Furor
3. What We Created
4. The Bitter End
5. Let The Rain Tear It Down
6. Seven
7. Parasite

8. We Stand Alone

System Annihilated provide a groove-laden soundtrack to the chaotic world we live in. Futuristic riffs tussle for space with fast-flowing drums and rasping screams. They hit their stride straight away with opening track This Apocalypse.  Now they're progressive but melody isn't forthcoming in the song, instead they prefer to batter you into submission with modern death metal. Their penchant for atonal riffs follows on to the title track. They seem to use the same tempo, but this time they throw in a few more techy breakdowns, which are pretty heavy. They even manage brief moments of euphoria when the drums pound away is a dramatic fashion, with a more reserved tempo, acting as a bridge between verses. The overall effect towards the end of Furor is damn good and shows SA's instrumental prowess.

They inject more treble into What We Created and the music still remains furious and upbeat. It's good to hear SA putting some more musical textures into their music. Even a little variation can go a long way sometimes! It gets better as The Bitter End comes into view. The lead sits menacingly at the top of the mix, with some great regimental style drumming underneath. From there on in it's all about poly rhythms and all-out rabid screams. The introspective mid-section helps lower the heart rate. That rest doesn't last for long though, as the final one and a half minutes seem to get heavier. The intro section to Let The Rain Tear It Down will send a shiver down your spine; such is the crispness of the guitar melody at the start. I'm bloody sold on this band already! The song itself underlines the effectiveness of SA's sound and ends with the crisp guitar that started it all. 

The sixth song is called Seven, rather amusingly. That small observation aside, it's a savage song! As SA pile-drive their way through the final two songs, Parasite and We Stand Alone, you'll either be left grinning or just plain out-cold. They don't try and be heavy for the sake of it, but manage to somehow sound huge. Those riffs, which form the bedrock of Furor, are what drives it on and keeps the band's energy up. This has been a real surprise for me. This could well be the album that gets me excited about tech-metal again and for that, System Annihilated should be applauded!

You can stream music from Furor on Discouraged Record's Soundcloud page below:-

Head over to the Discouraged Records store to pick up the album, if you like what you hear http://www.discouragedrecords.com/news.php.

System Annihilated's Facebook page - https://www.facebook.com/SystemAnnihilated