The Process of Endtime

Album Review

A huge step forward from their 2002 debut, For All Our Sins, Crematorium's second album is evenly matched between American hardcore thrash and Scandinavian black metal. Singer Daniel Dismal has two vocal approaches that he occasionally switches between midsong, a standard-issue "death growl" (you know, the metal voice that sounds like a constipated Muppet) and a much more effective hardcore sneer. Similarly, the band rides a knife's-edge balance between the hyperspeed blur of classic hardcore and the measured midtempo thud of grindcore, with some unexpectedly poppy straight metal influences appearing in songs like the surprisingly catchy "Perils of the Disillusioned." The songs are mostly kept hardcore short, with half of the ten songs whizzing past in under three minutes each and the entire album wrapping up in just over half an hour. The combination of brevity and variety results in a much lower level of listener fatigue than many similar albums provide.