By Night

A New Shape Of Desperation (Lifeforce)
by Scott Hefflon

Lifeforce found Trivium, doesn’t that count for anything? While not every signing is of that caliber, surely, Lifeforce has a better batting average of interesting metal bands than Ferret, yet which has the full page color ads and the sales figures that WAY exceed the talent of their bands. Hell, no one ever said life was fair, but you’d hope the metal underground would be smarter than the average AP reader, ya know?

Anyway, By Night are from Sweden and will knock your fuckin’ teeth down your throat. Unlike meathead American thugcore, the style is more Meshuggah than Hatebreed, dig? The roar is immense, the guitars compressed and precise (they’re Swedish, duh), the drumming mind-boggling, and if Fear Factory were smarter and Opeth less artistically smug, they’d snag bands like this to open for them, then have to bring their A-game to not get shown up. Badly.
(www.lifeforcerecords.com)