I’d never actually heard any material by NINE before but after reading that the record was produced by Daniel Bergstrand (Strapping Young Lad) and LG Petrov (Entombed) I sat down and imagined that there would be a metalfest ahead of me. I wasn’t far wrong. This is without a doubt the kind of Hardcore that could get Nu-Metal kids into the metallic hardcore scene. In fact I’d go as far as to say that this release actually has a lot more in common with Nu-Metal than with Hardcore.
There are plenty of catchy riffs, and underlying guitar parts that weep out of the speakers, especially in the melancholic “Watching The Train Go By” but there are just far too many instrumental sections that sound like they could have been lifted straight off a Marilyn Manson record, such as the introduction to “The Strategy of Fear”, or the opening guitars after the gothic synth sounds of “Them”.
After a couple of metal sounding tracks comes a slightly faster sounding track in “Discontent O.D” that ditches the riffs in favour of some slightly intricate guitar work. In places “Discontent O.D” reminds me of fellow labelmates RAISED FIST but with some underlying guitar lines that sound like something that RISE AGAINST would pull off. This same melodic guitar styling is present on “The End”, and works well to layer the sound away from the standard nu-metal riffs. These two tracks are definitely the stand-out tracks for me on this album. The long-winded epic “Anxiety Report” is another melancholic song weighing in at just under six minutes in length. This is the song that could be used to sum up Nine‘s sound and mood in a nutshell: Very gothic, angry and sad.
I won’t deny the fact that the record is musically good, and a lot of time has gone into creating a dark soundscape of heavy melody but overall there are just too many nods to nu-metal for me to stomach. However, If you like contemporary metal/hardcore crossover bands such as HATEBREED, RAISED FIST or HIMSA you’ll probably want to check them out supporting CONVERGE in September/October as I’m sure the power they demonstrate on record comes across well in a live setting.