Tracks
1. Concrete Walls
2. Face Off
3. Living a Lie
4. In Front of Your Eyes
5. Unbreakable
6. Head of State
7. This is Only the Beginning
8. Let Them Die Alone
9. Scars of Attitude
10. I Will Stand Stronger
11. The Legacy of Hate
12. Awaiting the Downfall

Band:
Hugo – Vocals
Karia – Bass
Neto – Guitar
Pardal – Guitar
Xines – Drums

Discography:
Confrontation Of Souls (2009)

Guests:
Leif Jensen vocals on Legacy of Hate

Info
Recorded at Ultrasound Studios in Moita, Portugal, with producer Daniel Cardoso

Released 9/5-2011
Reviewed 15/7-2011

Links:
myspace
rastilho

This album is the first one from a PR company that we have not received anything from before and those you never really want to kick down on, at the same time you have to be honest with what you think about an album no matter what you think. I am not saying yet that I do not like Switchtense who are a portuguese band playing extreme metal in the borderland of thrash and death metal. It is powerful, hard, heavy and fast all the way through. The album will go on for just over 48 minutes when you start playing it, it contains twelve tracks over this 48 minutes.

It is an album that has a very modern production that give a clean sound while still keeping the power and intensity of the band. The vocals are growly from the start to finish, it is like the band does not want to switch down or shift gear anywhere. The tempo is always on the up and they never really let up or take a breather this band.

I think this is a small problem, I like the first four tracks as they have all this with energy, rawness, power and everything you want from an extreme metal album. But then it starts to go downwards, maybe not in free fall but it goes downwards as I start loosing interest as the album becomes more and more monotone. The vocals are not varied at all, the songs are not varied enough to really make the twelve songs count which is of course something that makes the album feel too long.

I think this band fall into the same trap that many extreme metal bands fall into, they want to be heavy and extreme and they forget to add some variation to the songs as the thriving for heaviness just make all the songs sound more or less the same and this is what makes so many of these bands so boring. I am not saying that Switchtense are boring though, they do have something and they are alright but they are still not quite there.

What I think this band need to do is add variation or make much shorter albums but adding variation is a good thing to do, maybe by varying vocals style a little or by varying the songs much more than they do now. They are like many other bands out there, they do have potential and it shows within their songs but for me it just does not reach its potential mainly thanks to the similitude.

48 minutes is possible to pull off in this kind of genre, I have seen it with Legion of the Damned for instance and they are compared with this band in some text. But I do think that if you are a real fan of that band or any of the three similar bands or Slayer I am quite sure that you will enjoy Switchtense. But if you, like me are only peripherally interested in the extreme metal I think you will find it okay but a bit tedious and a bit dull towards the end.

A good album for the fans of the genre with some really good stuff.

HHHHHHH

Label: Rastilho Records
Three similar bands: Soulfly/Devildriver/Hatesphere
Rating: HHHHHHH
Reviewer: Daniel Källmalm