Band: Cubensis Album: Metaphysical Impact Label: 666 Production Rating: 7/10 Website: http://www.myspace.com /cubensisband BUY NOW!

French band Cubensis lie somewhere in the middle of brutal death metal…and Avenged Sevenfold! Not a combination we see every day! However, even though it seems a strange amalgamation, there is something all too familiar about the sound of this album…and I think I know what it is. The band combine styles from Machine Head, Slayer and many other bands from different spectrums of the metal cataloguing system, but unlike most bands who take their inspiration from their favourite bands and incorporate the sound with that of their own, Cubensis have just mixed all the styles together and left them that way without really segregating them at all. The album is really just an odd combination of sounds that we recognise all too well, though if I’m honest…it sounds rather good. The first track, ‘Metaphysical Impact’, begins with a strange shuddering sound, before launching into a hard-hitting riff reminding me of an odd combination of the music from the world famous big 4 of thrash. As the vocals hit the scene, there is an unambiguous similarity with those of Rob Flynn of Machine Head but with a slightly angrier edge and definitely more fierce. The main riff is even more brutal than that which precedes it and more powerful than it’s introductory predecessor, and while the drum beats are none too complicated, they hold an absolute rhythm, and get the ground shaking! Here, however, is the unfortunate catch; each track is so similar to the next and previous that, after the first 5…it genuinely becomes hard to tell them apart. It is always the problem with bands who decide to play very fast music…you have to have the playing ability and the song writing skill to pull it off and make it sound good and original. The French group unquestionably posses the ability to play the style of music that they wish to play, and the song writing is also good, but they ought to master the art of writing a variety of unique sounds for each album to avoid inevitable repetition. Overall…it is always hard to give a band one mark if most of their attributes deserve high scores but they’re let down by just one element. In this case, unfortunately for the band, it is a fairly fundamental feature that has made the entertainment factor far worse than it could have been. The lack of variety all but ruined this otherwise well put together debut. If they take note of the criticism they have though, they should be back with something more exciting in the near future so without a doubt a band to look out for Lewis Klein Back to Reviews