Distorted - Voices From Within Review
by Matt Hensch
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This CD is the gift clairvoyants have been promising for decades: gothic metal's crowning achievement. Appearing in just a child's form, Israel's Distorted have fulfilled prophecies of decades past, excelling wonderfully at atmospheric depression that ignores mediocrity while the band rises musically like a phoenix's burning resurrection.
Immolating with heart stopping passion, Voices From Within is uniquely prevalent like pi's dominance in finding a circle's circumference, making the record properly balanced between gloom and instrumentation. The same cannot be said about most factions of the Goth metal genre, but that is why this album works so flawlessly. All gothic metal bands can officially change identities or dispose of their instruments: Distorted have claimed the genre as their own in each and every conceptual aspect, destroyed all competition, and maxed out its golden fountains entirely. Needless to say, the style's magnum opus has arrived.
In times past, I have noticed several gothic metal bands having too much "gothic" and not enough "metal" instead of balancing the two components. Unlike that ilk, Distorted has it spread evenly throughout Voices From Within. On an ambient platform, the guitars emit crunching riffs that bite like a rabid jackal while fluctuating between multiple speeds of fantastic emotion, whether choleric speed or dispiriting slow sections.
Acting as a refrigerator, Guy Shalom does wonders keeping Voices From Within fresh from his presence as a bass player. Throughout the entire record, he lightly colors simple chimes right underneath Distorted's present formula; only enough to know he is there, but it is like a little dimple on a cute girl that just makes her face seem beautiful, if that makes sense. However, there is a keen edge of melody attached to these gnawing riffs, often times making the album seem voluminously poetic and original, even when taking Distorted's already individualistic approach into the crosshairs. Charmingly professional and vastly dynamic, this tiny sprinkle of Gothenburg magic creates enough harmony to exclude redundancy or generic attributes; it is done flawlessly, like everything else.
As the delicious cake becomes one with oral cavities, a brief shock of pulchritudinous vocals enrolls a silk tender while growling violence simultaneously erupts like inhuman savagery; this safeguard of duel singers aids Distorted throughout any harm arising from their distinct attack. Miri Milman and Raffael Mor are jointly unstoppable, together mixing in both melancholic chants and sharp barks deep within the planet's gravel; of course, they are prime vocalists of their specific niches in terms of skill, and certainly not sloppy or indecent. Thing is, Milman and Mor's vocal contributions are impeccable matches with the remaining assault, making it not pompous or boring, but fundamentally stellar throughout. You see, two heads CAN be better than one. Distorted have done something few bands will ever do: subjugate an invalid sound and vanquish their genre competition into captivity. As it seems, this sophomore effort does not allow meandering crap to survive, and instead, we witness these musical proprietors take advantage of its dynamic characteristics while avoiding potential problems that might arise, which clearly has not happened very often, especially with such an experimental faction. Out of shear honesty, Voices From Within is certainly the best item I have ever heard when discussing gothic metal, even when debating the genre's frontrunners like Type O Negative or My Dying Bride; it really goes above and beyond what this particular emblem represents. Nothing negative can pan out if you analyze a song or too, so stop reading and get to it!
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Distorted - Voices From Within Rating:9.5
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