DETONATION – Emission Phase

The Dutch/American Thrash/Death Metal band Detonation is not an unknown band in the Metal world. They started out in 1997 under the name Infernal Dream, and recorded two songs for a compilation CD under the name Detonation in 1998. Since then they’ve toured heavily with bands like Dimension Zero, Decapitate, and Gorerotted. Emission Phase is their third full-length album to date.

First on the album is “Invoking The Impact.” The opening riff sounds almost Progressive and it’s followed by the growling vocals of Koen Romeijn. The music Detonation introduce you to with the opening track is pure Thrash Metal with growling vocals on top, making it a sort of Thrash/Death Metal hybrid. “When Stone Turns To Ash” is next and it really continues where the previous song left off, except that this one has a piano part with lots of good riffing on top, and a great guitar solo. What’s really cool about the music is the way guitarist Mike Ferguson keeps putting great guitar parts on top of the riffs.

“Chokedamp” is more melodic than the previous songs. There’s always a guitar playing on top of the riffs and it gives the song a whole different outcome. There are also some clean vocals in this one. “Into The Emission Phase” starts with a melodic guitar on top of some slow, but great riffing. Ferguson shows fans another side of the band with this intro. Another impressive thing about this song is Romeijn’s vocals. The way he growls fits the music great, especially when he just holds the tone over Ferguson’s solo. “Into The Emission Phase” also has a clean part for the guitar and makes this the most varied song on the record.

“2nd Sun Ascending” is one of two instrumental songs on the album. The intro is an acoustic guitar that’s relieved by one of the many Thrashy riffs displayed during this record. The riffs are many and they are changing all of the time before the song slides into “Soul Severance.” “Soul Severance” offers a lot of different Thrashy Progressive riffs (or was it Progressive Thrashy riffs?). The guitar solo is a harmonic dual solo and it’s awesome. Vocalist Romeijn is all on top of this one. He growls almost to the point of a scream at times, but never so bad that he goes Metalcore. It sounds really cool. The music could at times make you think of a slightly faster version of French Metallers Gojira, but with more screaming vocals on top.

Guitarist Ferguson shows his love for both really cool melodic guitar solos and acoustic (and maybe even more melodic) solos on this album. Even though his solos aren’t the longest you’ve heard, they always leave a certain impression on you. For instance, check out the solos on “Defects Of The Isolated Mind,” “Soul Severance,” and “Reborn From The Radiance.” They are simply fantastic. The only thing to complain about is the “absence” of a playful bass. The bass is there, but you can’t single it out because it always duplicates the guitar riffs. A little more independent play would have been highly appreciated. The drums are great, though, and they give the little extra to the guitar riffs, and the double bass drum is added just at the right places.

For those who like lots of merciless, uncompromising Thrash riffs with loads of double bass drums and changing speeds, this is going to be a blast for you to check out!

For those who are a little pickier and crave more variation in the song material, this could be a little boring after a while, as it could be said that some of the songs sound similar to each other. But, hey, face it; this is a riff-based Thrash/Death Metal album that’s simply so brutal and uncompromising that you have to love it. Sometimes it is just mind-freeing to turn up the stereo really loud and headbang to great music like a freakin’ Metal Maniac is supposed to do. Yeah, f**k it, you simply need to buy this one!

Detonation is

Koen Romeijn – Vocals and Guitar
Mike Ferguson – Guitar
Thomas Kalksma – Drums
Otto Schimmelpenninck – Bass