27 Jul 2012

Outliar - Provoked to Anger [Full length] (2012, Self-released)




Let's get things straight. Outliar, a four-man band from North Carolina, play groove metal with an emphasis on GROOVE. When the subject falls on groove metal you can't go without the grand old bands of the genre like Pantera, Anthrax, Sepultura, Exhorder and the like. Groove metal, though it didn't really come around until the early 90's, is still massively popular today with bands such as Lamb of God, Machine Head, Soulfly and DevilDriver being some of the most popular bands of the genre, and Outliar takes a little bit from every aspect of the genre.

Groove metal is more or less thrash metal played at a slower pace, making it very listener-friendly and easy to go nuts to, and this American band make it very easy to enjoy their groovy tunes. However it feels like they've listened a bit too much to the classics, meaning that they pretty much follow the trends of modern groove metal. While this has a tendency to make Provoked to Anger a rather predictable album it also means that it's very easy to enjoy listening to because they follow the trends so well. The debut album features all the givens of the genre, which means everything from semi-progressive heavy riffs that pump you up, to almost power ballad-ish tracks like Another Surrender.

Like I mentioned earlier they borrow elements from more or less every well-known band of the genre, but some times one small part shines through; Like in A Loss of Sincerity where the vocals once in a while take on the aspects of Randy Blythe from Lamb of God, especially when vocalist Jason Ford lets out a groaning "You'll have to walk alone". At other times Low-era Testament comes to mind in terms of structure and riffing, but facts are that Outliar do their thing with convincing power. Provoked to Anger will satiate the listeners thirst for both brutal thrash riffs like the one in Faceless Enemy and crushing songwriting like Rod of the Shepherd, while yet leaving room to more melodic pieces. 8/10 guitars.





Tracklist:
1. The Procession
2. It's Time to Bleed
3. Faceless Enemy
4. Coffin Text
5. Another Surrender
6. A Loss of Sincerity
7. Rod of the Shepherd
8. Dozer
9. Vendetta

OUTLIAR official site

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