In Battle - Welcome to the Battlefield

[Bleakest Harvest]

In Battle - Welcome to the Battlefield
Metal Blade - 3984-14504-2 - 02/11/04
By Patrick Walsh




The main selling point for In Battle's latest full-length would appear to be the role of ex-Morbid Angel/Hate Eternal axeman Erik Rutan as producer, which is of course completely irrelvant to the quality of the music in question. Welcome to the Battlefield, whilst a competent slice of brutal death metal, is cold and calculated sounding to the point of sterility.

Opener 'Shunned by Life' sounds initially promising, bursting forth in an array of battering drums, proficient guitar work and suitably barking vocals with the occasional overdubbed scream. So far so good, but by the third song one starts to wonder whether In Battle have any other tricks up their sleeve than full tilt 90mph blasting ad nauseum. Further investigation proves fears that, nope, In Battle are in fact one-trick ponies, and every song on this cd sounds almost identical. Perhaps this wouldn't be such a problem if drummer Nisse Fjellstrom would inject a little emotion into his kit aside from the constant blastbeats that could easily be mistaken for a drum machine if his name weren't on the booklet.

'Scorched World' begins promisingly with a some nice leadwork, before descending into another predictable blast-beat laden speedathon. Again with 'Serpents' we get a nice mid-paced intro with some satisfyingly vicious vocal-work, before the band sees fit to ruin the atmosphere by stepping on the gas once again. There are no doubt some great riffs buried in there somewhere but i'll be damned if I ever get a chance to hear them, as entire sections of this are likely to pass you by without you even realising that you've just listened to half the album, and if this doesn't set alarm bells ringing then it's highly possible that Welcome to the Battlefield is tailored for your needs. Erik Rutan's production job is decent but by no means good enough to raise this above mediocrity. One for fans of linear death metal, but those of you looking for something a little more interesting would do well to look elsewhere.

5.5/10

In Battle's Official Website
Metal Blade Records' Official Website