Zyklon

Zyklon - Disintegrate
Candlelight Records, 2006

1. In Hindsight
2. Disintegrate
3. Ways of the World
4. Subversive Faith
5. A Cold Grave
6. Vile Ritual
7. Underdog
8. Wrenched
9. Vulture
10. Skinned and Endangered

After hearing “Aeon” and that not really living up to the insanity that was “World ov Worms,” I wasn’t expecting “Disintegrate” to cycle back into that, instead I figured Zyklon would do something somewhat different.  After hearing this I rather wish they had released something more akin to “Aeon.”  “Aeon” at least sounded pretty good and didn’t feel entirely unoriginal.  The opening track “In Hindsight” was a rather hopeful track in my opinion because it was an intense onslaught of Death Metal, until you get to the more melodic mid section of the song where things mellow out a little bit.  This is probably the song I enjoyed the most out of the entire album because it had a reminiscent styling of their first recording at points.  After this track the rest of the album seems to be more based around a Thrashier Death Metal concept because that’s what most of the tracks sound like to me.  As is typical with Zyklon everything is executed with absolute precision, because anything less would be unbecoming of this band… that is until we get to track three.

“Ways of the World,” starts off strong, but then you get to the closing.  This is where I heard the worst thing I could possibly hear on any album I own and it’s to this day why I will most likely never really pull this album out to listen to again.  “Ways of the World” closes with a Hardcore breakdown!  Groovy breakdowns are one thing and are common in Metal, but this absolute idiocy, I just cannot get beyond.  I really do hate Hardcore that much.  I hate everything about it, I hate the attitude of the fans, I hate the way the music sounds, and to hear that executed on an otherwise pretty decent album is like committing a grave sin of performing proper Metal.  Not to mention I can’t help but feel my CD collection is somewhat tainted because as it stands it’s the only album I own that even has a Hardcore breakdown.  The breakdown is even introduced in the same inane manner Hardcore bands announce their oncoming stupidity with “Let’s fucking go,” followed by a perfectly executed waste of time that even Jami Jasta would be proud to be a part of.  It felt like I was being subjected to the MTV era Zyklon.  I was even waiting to hear someone start yelling “I will be heard” with a group of idiots hardcore “dancing” with floor punching and flailing their arms in a windmill like manner.  The fact that I’m comparing Zyklon to Hatebreed in the same sentence should give a lot of people pause and think about where Zyklon is heading in the future.  Needless to say I will most likely not be purchasing the next Zyklon album, the band can be as confused about this as they want.  Maybe it’s an American thing, but out here performing a Hardcore breakdown is basically synonymous with performing Emo music, there’s no difference in the idiocy.  So yeah, maybe I’m a bit nuts for letting this ruin the album for me, but I thought decent tracks following “Ways of the World” would save the album, but they didn’t help, I kept remembering and saying to myself “I can’t believe they used a Hardcore breakdown.”  I really wish I could get into the CD and delete this third track.

There’s really no point in me talking about the rest of this album because it didn’t really mean anything to me beyond this track.  It seriously died for me after hearing that part.  This is a shame because this would have been a rather solid Death/Thrash styled album, albeit completely unoriginal.  Purchase this at your own risk, I certainly wouldn’t recommend it.  If you’re going to buy a Zyklon album get “Aeon” or “World ov Worms,” I guarantee there will be no Hardcore breakdowns on those.

An example of what not to do when constructing a metal song: