Audiopain
The Traumatizer
Vendlus
Records 2004
Audiopain? Audiopain!!!!!!!!!!! The Traumatizer does everything you'd expect an album with that for a title. It Traumatizes. An assault of black thrash is unleashed upon my ears and it bludgeons me into submission. I have liked Audiopain for a while now but this album pushed me over the edge from "like" to "love." The songs range from catchy riffs in a more straightforward structure to more complex deliveries with some low end grooves in them, most notably on the track Living Among Humans. The thrash riff fest Believer opens with a catchy mildly melodic riff that instantly hooks you and drags you into the dark folds of the crisp yet cold riffs that wash in to fill the voids. And I think maybe my favorite song is Fraud Machine with its intense speed that breaks into a stop and start ear trauma. There are six songs here but the length of the album is a full length. One thing I don't understand though is using an instrumental when you only have 6 songs on the album. Granted Thrash Mental is a great instrumental so if that's what you desire to do then I guess more power to Audiopain. Sverre is a very different vocalist. He has a lot more rasp to his vocals than most people and that makes him stand out in a field of generic clones. The lyrics are slightly strange and not your average devil worshipping anti-religious hate mongering. Granted there is all of that but with a more modern and psychological edge to it all. And one thing I must mention is the packaging on this CD. I have never seen anything like it. It is like a puzzle-box or something. It is unreal and must be seen to be believed. Possibly the coolest packaging ever. Kim Solve does a great job once again with the cover art. It's obscured and muddled leaving the mind to wander. Audiopain is a band that inspires with nostalgic thrash riffs but has infused them with a modern and hateful darkness that makes them sound so fresh and monumental. So far in my opinion this is the best CD released this year.