My Own Private Armageddon

After a grandiose, symphonic metal introduction, the first real song on Slowmotion Apocalypse's debut album My Own Private Armageddon hits an exciting new standard in terms of metal's ubiquitous death-growl vocals: singer Alberto "Albi" Zannier doesn't even appear to be trying to enunciate actual words (in either English or his native Italian) in "The Insomniac." The guttural howls of that song occasionally slip into recognizable human speech throughout the rest of the album, but for the most part, the uncharitable could have an entertaining time imagining that Slowmotion Apocalypse are, in fact, fronted by Gossamer, that big orange monster in the tennis shoes that chased Bugs Bunny through a series of cartoons. That said, the rest of the band is outstanding at mixing non-technical speed thrash and straight-up black metal. Lead guitarist Ivan Odorico and drummer Tommaso Corte don't sacrifice power for speed, however, and so songs like "Last Generation Humans" and the epic "Psychic War 2.0" add thick, almost dissonant guitar parts and tricky drum fills to the otherwise straightforward sound. Those who can get past Zannier's idiosyncratic (even by current European metal standards) vocals will find much to satisfy here.