sic pandemonium

Released: February 2007 Label: Tutl Records

SIC started in the Faroe Islands in 2002. This, their debut album was originally released in 2007 but the band have now launched a full scale assault of Europe with months of tourdates, and the album is experiencing a resurgence in countries that perhaps missed it the first time round.

Many eyebrows have been raised about the fact that the Faroe Islands has produced such an amazing metal band. The tiny islands are not renowned for making metal history to date. With less than 50,000 inhabitants it may be a minor miracle that the members of this band came together at all. But fate conspired and thankfully created a band that mixes industrialized hardcore thrash with a smattering of Nu Metal to create something special that competes with the likes of Machinehead. The Island's link with Denmark and fate's further intervention then threw them together with excellent Danish producer Tommy Hansen, and the result is a ferocious debut album that any fan of the likes of Fear Factory or Chimaira should appreciate.

Opening track Reach Inside is heavy and pounding, with dramatic electric guitars. Unlike some thrash bands though, the vocals are pleasantly listenable, in a Slipknot vein in places. Vocalist Mikkjal G Hansen has a strong and deep gravelly voice suited to this genre of music, but his screaming is superb too on tracks such as To Dare to Risk Regret.

Central to the album is the track, Rosegarden in Hell, for which the band made a promotional video. For those unfamiliar with the band this shows them at their slower pulsating best. It's mesmerising and trippy whilst still being metal as hell. Other tracks on the album are faster paced but still manage to keep an almost trippy feel even when thrashing along at a hundred miles an hour.

This is a tuneful, dynamic, aggressive album and one that all fans of this genre need to discover.

by Lynn Wyeth