Profound Lore Records

When Axis of Advance broke up it was not a happy day for Canadian metal, nor, at least in my imagination, for the rest of the world. AoA were one of this writer's 2 favorite "current" bands; stunningly original and uncompromising, and brilliant in every respect, from the lyrics and themes, to the complex, relentless combination of black metal, death metal, and added depth and dimensionality not present in most music in the black or death genres. Everything they released was of superior quality, and they were only improving with age.

When I heard that two thirds of Axis of Advance (Vermin (C. Ross) and J. Read) had formed a new band I was immediately interested. Taking vocal duties in this new band would be A.A. Nemtheanga, highly praised vocalist of Irish metal legends Primordial. I’ve got an admittedly limited  familiarity with Primordial’s output, so I didn’t  have any expectations for his performance in this collaboration.

Indoctrine begins with Nemtheanga whispering “make my aim true… and my hand steady”, followed by the sound of gunshots. The music takes over, within seconds sounding as if it were an Axis of Advance track, with James Read’s rolling thunder drum fills, and, as soon as the strangely dissonant chords are finished, the riffing takes shape and aggression invades the promised land of whatever environment in which the listener finds himself listening. The production closely resembles recent Axis of Advance works, with Read’s unmistakable drum sound rumbling in perfect coordination with the bleak and heartless strings of Vermin, both equally mixed and unpolished with a dirty and harsh edge, but striking sharpness. But to prevent the listener from imagining they are listening to a new Axis of Advance release, Nemtheanga’s voice interrupts the storm of combat-like battery and throws the song into a strange world. Right away it is evident that his pompous, authoritative, clean voice provides a startling contrast to the war march that is the music. His spoken word passages lend an even stranger contrast to music that is evidently designed for violence. While the two do not fit well, his voice is of an admirable quality and is unique in its own right. Nemtheanga yells and half-sings over the destruction laid beneath him by Read and Vermin, with words detailing the inner thoughts and outer actions of violent criminals. The album is a concept album, sticking to the theme of murderers. Though lyrically this isn't of the same calibre as any Axis of Advance release, with less imaginitive and complex lyrical concepts, it's a suitable theme for a concept album that is musically so visceral and intense, and Nemtheanga's voice does convey the mood of mental instability particularly well. Although the clarity and tone of his voice serves a distinct purpose, it is ultimately ill-equipped for music of such an aggressive nature.

In the brief moments when Nemtheanga lets his raspy aggression show, it almost complements the violent spirit of the music, but usually falls short and sounds forced, unnatural, and leaves everything sounding mismatched. Some moments, like those toward the end of “Bite the Hand, Purge the Flesh”, or in the middle of “God’s Executioner, Praise Be” sound authentic and horrifically violent and absolutely fitting, while others, like those in “My Name in Blood Across the Sky” sound poor and weak, almost laughable in the context of the music.

Musically, Read and Vermin have created something resembling the sound of Axis of Advance, but more subdued and, perhaps with Nemtheanga in mind, often slower. The minimal, but highly meaningful sense of subtle melody that could be found on all Axis of Advance releases raises its head on Indoctrine a few times, and plenty of riffs sound as though they’d be better utilized in the context of AoA with Wor back on vocals and guitars. Victorious, rampaging, atonal madness tends to rule the battlefield, regularly joined by a tense, mechanized brutality familiar to Ross and Read. There are some seriously excellent riffs jumping around on the album, and along with Read’s incredible percussion, they’re usually the only thing saving this release. There is no shortage of excellence in this regard. As an instrumental album, this could be a powerhouse. James Read's drums play the immeasurably vital role they have always played in every band he's ever been a part of.

When Nemtheanga is singing in his typical voice it sounds as though the music was recorded at a different time, in a different place, and Nemtheanga’s vocals were cut from another group of songs that sounded nothing like what is on this record, recorded by an entirely different band, and were pasted on top of what we have here, without any thought at all put into how these components could work together. His voice is simply wrong for this music in every way possible. I’ve listened to this album close to 30 times over the past few months, because I really, really want to get used to the voice accompanying this excellent music. It’s not happening, because it simply doesn’t belong. However, I will say that even though Nemtheanga’s voice isn’t sitting well with me for this release, it does sound cool in parts and can be effective at times when it reaches a dramatic climax or when he takes a surprising tone that is strangely hard to describe, such as that toward the end of the title track. It resembles some angry, authoritative, madman who wishes nothing but horrible things upon those unfortunate souls he is addressing. These moments, sprinkled with the occasional harsh vocals, makes Indoctrine as a whole listenable and somewhat enjoyable, even considering its very noticeable flaws in the vocal department which ultimately keep it from being everything it could have been.

7.2/10