REVIEWS

Azrael Trigger
Season to Sever

Primordial Music

Posted: Monday, October 08, 2007
By: Trubie Turner

Neuroplague front man Gus Yoo has unleashed the debut of his collaborative effort, dubbed Azrael Trigger. With this first release, Season to Sever, Yoo has brought together half a dozen other artists to produce a solid effort that flies in the face of the old adage, "You get what you pay for." The album opens with the very infectious and energetic "Choke," which features harsh beats and hooks reminiscent of Front Line Assembly's work on Hard Wired, and is expertly topped with a healthy dose of aggressive vocals. Unfortunately, after "Choke," one of the albums main weaknesses rears its ugly head. The next two tracks, "Out of Pain" and "Negator" are the first indication that Yoo's vocal style does not always complement the music. Yoo's performance sounds largely the same in both tracks, causing them to bleed together despite the songs sounding very different. This weakness is also apparent in later songs such as "Karma" and "Vindicate." However, in other tracks, Yoo's voice is a perfect fit. One such example is one of the album's mayor highlights, "Undermind." Much slower than the album's previous entries, the song has a very dark and haunting feel about it, which Yoo amplifies with his vocals. The first real misstep of the album comes with the song "Voices." The guest vocals of Renee Ilardi do offer a reprieve from the harsh and somewhat unchanging vocals of Yoo. However, her performance feels strained and simply does not mesh with the song in the slightest. Afterwards, we are treated to a varied array of tracks from the soothing instrumental "Lamentation," to another haunting track in the form of "Benediction," to the high energy dance floor-burning "Strife." Distributed under a creative commons license, Season to Sever is available as a free download, with an encouragement to donate to the label if you enjoy the album. Though not a perfect album, it is worth much more than the price of admission and is well worth shelling out a few dollars to show your support. This well done effort deserves some reward.