HEARSE – Armageddon, Mon Amour

From the relatively deep woods of Sweden (Norway is, of course, the only country with truly deep woods) comes Hearse, a trio performing a death/doom ’n’ roll sort of Metal, and a very promising sort it is. I have to admit that my first thoughts when I received this CD were sort of, “Oh no, another Swedish beer band,” but my impression was soon to change. My expectations did, in fact, increase dramatically as the opener “Mountain of the Solar Eclipse” began to resound from my speakers. With a main riff sounding a bit Motörhead-ish, this song makes me think of a fat kid in a runaway shopping trolley – it just rolls and rolls and crushes every obstacle in its way. “Turncoat” continues the trend nicely, led by a solid lead guitar theme, reminding me of Dark Tranquility. The verses are a bit chaotic, though. Both “The Crops of Waste” and “In Love and War” are also decent tunes, with the first being the better of the two. Here too the sound is quite Swedish, with more melody incorporated.

“Ticket to Devastation,” on the other hand, is pure stoner rock, and unfortunately this is only a short instrumental. The main riff here is excellent and could make for a killer doom track. I could almost sense the smell of dope smoke in the air after the first few bars, and there’s no way these guys can defend wasting a riff that cool. An instrumental lasting little more than a minute, therefore, ends up as one of the album’s highlights.

“Tools” sounds a bit ordinary up to the chorus, which sticks like the pink baby elephant Bobo in a small girl’s dream. Hearse sound good throughout when they incorporate lead melody guitars in their soundscape, and this effect is used very wisely both here and in “Cambodia,” the next track.

After the short acoustic interlude, “Sodi,” we are introduced to the worst song on the album, “Play without Rules,” a chaotic mish-mash desperately lacking musical sense. “Determination” lacks just that (determination, that is), as it lurks a bit on the anonymous side of things. Unfortunately this is also the case with the closing (and title) track. After a powerful intro, with Tony Iommi guitars and church bells aplenty, the track really doesn’t go anywhere. The main chord progression is cool, but you can’t say that the boys have gotten the most out of it. That’s too bad, because there are elements here upon which a very good song could have been built.

2004 has brought very few true killer albums thus far, but quite some a few very promising releases from new and upcoming bands. Hearse definitely falls into that category, as this album bears great promise for the future. There are lots of great elements in this album … ones that you can’t help but to enjoy!