8thSin is probably a band that not many of you recognize. Personally, I had never heard of the Swedish five-piece act before a promotional copy of their second album, Angelseed & Demonmilk, landed in my postbox. Dont be mistaken though, 8thSin is one of the most unique metal bands Ive been introduced to lately. Their combination of electronics with coarse power chorded metal riffs brings to mind bands like Rob Zombie, RTPN, Powerman 5000 and Zeromancer. Angelseed & Demonmilk is one of those albums that capture your interest with the very first track, and
while it could then disappoint you with an utter lack of variation, it continues to surprise. Each song
contributes to the album a new, constantly progressing sound, dominated by low-tuned guitars, strange yet alluring tempos and a touch of electronic music, allowing the band to invent an entirely unique style that can best be described as some kind of industrial electronic Goth metal. The album begins with A sleepover at the feeling of death; the intro of which attempts to fool the listener into believing what is to follow is typical black- or death metal in the style of Deicide or Six Feet Under. The song then explodes into an impressive, fast and dense flow of Powerman 5000ish industrial metal, transported by waves of electronic sounds that enhance both the guitar work and drums, giving the
song a very captivating beat that unconsciously inspires tapping or headbanging to the rhythm while
thinking, Vow! These guys must really kick it live!.
Liars then kicks in with peculiar electronic sounds and a drum intro that brings to mind the drums in Soulflys Prophecy. The guitar gradually plays in with ITs scream of liars! also notice the impressive guest performance by Hypocrisys Peter Tägtgren. While the rest of the tracks develop the sound introduced in A sleepover at the feeling of death even further, it is track number six, Templo mayor that impresses the most. It comprises an extremely catchy electronic melody and slow tempo. The song is almost entirely dominated by electronics and drums, with the guitars providing only a slight touch of heaviness, assuring that the core of 8thSins music is still metal rather than techno. The eight sins, part II then concludes the album with a tranquil, foreboding melody, highlighted by occasional explosions and ghastly sighs. If 8thSin are able to put on this impressive a performance in my earphones, I am very curious to experience their act live. Angelseed & Demonmilk is industrial metal at its best, bringing in aspects of electronic music, black metal and Goth to create an entirely unique genre that the band defines itself by. The lyrics are evidently very thoughtfully written, containing alluring depths and extreme symbolism that are sometimes difficult to understand. Nevertheless, with its catchy sound, Angelseed & Demonmilk is definitely worth its cost. The beauty of this album lies in that it is able to capture the interest of not only the fans of industrial metal, but almost all other genres as well, ranging from techno to black metal. Angelseed & Demonmilk is a multi-aspect breakthrough for the Swedish 8thSin that deserves a slot in every record collection.
Best songs: A sleepover at the feeling of death, Templo mayor
For the fans of: Hypocrisy, Rob Zombie, Zeromancer
8 of 10
By AP
I applaud how 8thSin manage to infuse traditional metal anthems and hints of 80s new wave synths
into their electronic realms without sounding pathetic or tacky.
8thSin apply to the same fanbase as the ones that were absorbed by Peter Tägtgrens Pain, Mortiis
and partly Deathstars/The Kovenant. With all of the aforementioned bands, except Mortiis, running
low on ideas, its refreshing to lend 8thSin an ear, since this unit has captured an identity of its own.
3 of 6
By Lars Lolk - Antenna
An exotic coctail of metal, industrial and goth rock. If youd put Lex Icon from Kovenant into the same studio as Marilyn Manson, gave them a lot of LSD and thereafter forced them to make music together, i think the result would be something like the music on Angelseed & Demonmilk. There is no doubt that there is a lot of talent within 8thSin, due to the fact that there is not an easy task to sum up all those elements together, and there is also a very good production behind it. Personally I think that the production is too clinic, but at the same time it fits this electronic style very well. For those who like the new Kovenant album SETI and their sound, then Angelseed & Demonmilk will probably be of interest.
70 of 100
By Agent Egern
An improvement compared to the previous album definitely lays in the guitars. While still mainly simple (and just that, occasionally, but with more groove) the guitar riffs are more melodic, and there's also a few of songs where the guitar does some additional quircky stuff...more difficult and thus also more interesting! Vocally, IT backs his medium-high pitch lead singing with a lower one, the combination of which only enhances the Gothic feel! On "Black Widow", he even goes vocally different, yet still Gothic...nice trick to bring diversity on the album. If on the debut, it was through the electronics that came the most interesting stuff, there's now also nice things guitarwise, so that's definitely a positive growth. In other words, a worthy continuation and follow-up to last year's debut, and somehow also it made me wonder what the next album could be like!
90 of 100
By Tony Holemans Concrete web,
8th Sin have a slot somewhere between Rammstein and Kovenant. I dont get the direct hallelujah felling at the first listening, but most of the songs are growing after a while. Specially songs like A sleepover at the feeling of death (great title), Demons, Nocturnal, Angels and the song that remains the most of Rammstein Black Widow. All of them has good qualities with the strange themes, choruses and electronica elements that sticks to your brain after a while. All friends of the electronica genre shall give this record a chance. This album has against all odds touched me because of the choruses that is now been burnt into the brain.
5 of 10
By Einar Haugen
8th Sin has a personal standpoint, but not an overwhelming outlook. The songs on "Angelseed &
Demonmilk" are more coherent and keeping the stronghold to one another. I wouldn't go as far as
saying that there is a remarkable change, but yes, there are some nice ideas and inputs, which
makes 8th Sin the hard rocking cock with great twitches of delusion. 8th Sin is a number of raw and
processed products with common ingredients that originate from the modern tree of acts like early
White Zombie, The Kovenant and Deathstars. "Angelseed & Demonmilk" has a fermenting power
to grow on you and like chocolate, sometimes you just have to get more of the dark, milk, and
white coloration varieties.
7 of 10
By Kenny Strömsholm
Finally there are some real hooks and good songs. Irreligious borrows heavily from Manson, but kicks ass nonetheless. The vocalist IT is still far from being my favourite and the degree of originality is less than I'd expect from a really good album, but Angelseed & Demonmilk is certainly some solid industrial metal.
4 of 5
By Mikko Saari Melankolia, Finland December 13 2005
The rhythms are typical for the industrial music, even if the midtempo is never exceeded, but with the bombastic riffs/electronics/choir inserts a quite impressive and inspiring sound wall are developed. The title track of the album is worth mentioning as the successful quintessence of all songs, since all elements are best combined and implemented with variations here. And also, according to my opinion, it is the best piece on the album. The outstanding and very alive working production is made by
5.5 of 10
By Mr Vandemar
Doom, industrial, thrash, hard core, gothic metal. And everything in the first 60 seconds of the first track! 8th Sin fish in all ponds and this review would extent from over ten pages if an exact list of all facets would be listed here. Instead I try the direct comparison: Electrical sound of the Remanufacture (of Fear Factory) meets thrash metal meets Kovenant. This comparison is insufficient completely certainly, but 8th Sin do not make it easily with their category-mix. Some refrains are interesting arranged by the deep man choirs, but the songs lose however all together by the exaggerated pleeps and plongs of the keyboard.
2.5 of 5
By
2005 album of pure dark industrial mayhem. Manson meets Rammstein meets Funker Vogt.
By Red Eye Records
This is the second album from 8th Sin and Angelseed & Demonmilk is combining industrial metal with rock n roll and electronic goth. In many ways very old school, if it wasnt for the production. It sounds very good immediately, but i get used to it quite fast. It is very difficult to label this music, when it moves in different crossovers between many genres. Sometimes you can also feel some Rob Halford in the vocals, but it does not help my opinion on this album.
2,5 of 5
By Wolfman Revolution
Much like Mork Grynings impossibly complicated font, 8th Sin required seventeen scientists, a microscope and a street map of Paris to decipher what on the earth this band were called. Yet similarities between the two bands surprisingly stop there, despite the grotesque record name. 8th Sin are almost a black metal version of controversial rapmetallers Clawfinger. With songs drenched in an unthinkable amount of quickly-tongued vocals, scratch-mastery and bizarre techno samples, 8th Sin have created a full-blown bout of steel-tinged old school. Quite who would want to listen to the missing link between DJ Jedi and Venom is anyones guess, but Liars and A Sleepover at the Feeding of Death are worth a listen if only because at times its so down-right amusing. At least theyre trying to be different. Bless.
3 of 5
By
A psychotic multi-personality of an album marks this new release from Swedish metallers 8th Sin.
With a solid grounding in metal they have mixed all the obvious hallmarks of that genre such as the deep heavy bass and an overall vocal style reminiscent of Robb Flynn with bursts of imaginative genre bending that makes these 11 tracks an original sounding collection. From opening track A Sleepover at the Feeling of Death right through to the closing The eight sins part 2 you are faced with pounding speed metal that intersperses drum n bass beats with Rammsteinesque militarism. Most notable is the use of a variety of style to introduce tracks such as the old school anthem sound of Alice Cooper in the introduction to Liars. Throughout the vocal style ranges from pure the pure metal mayhem of Wednesday 13 to the tight industrial metal of Rammstein. Demons in fact could come from a Rammstein album with a Sonne epic sound mixed with the electro beats closer to Ich Will. At times it even goes back to more traditional guttural roars of Flynn and James Hetfield which just adds further to the original sound of this album. Mixing up styles and band influences creates a sound that is distinctive and difficult to get a firm hold on to describe. The core of all the songs though is pure metal though more melodic than the usual dirge that can be found on albums of this sort. Definitely a bit different from others in the genre so give it a listen and try and decide what bands you can hear on the tracks, its interesting to count the influences and to notice how theyve all been combined to create an interesting variation on the metal theme.
By
Industrial rhythms and rough-edged semi-clean vocals are coupled with more traditional hard rock riffs in order to create a fairly original sound. "Angelseed & Demonmilk" does not distance itself very much from its predecessor but builds further on the same concept. A slight improvement can be noticed as the songs are more strongly held together this time around. Fans of Ministry, early White Zombie, Deathstars and other bands in this field of expertise as well as Swedish avantgarde horror metallers Notre Dame (R.I.P.) will all find something to enjoy in this Swedish mix created by one of the most important figures in the formative years of the country's extreme metal scene. He has always followed his own conviction and continues to do so even today. This time there is at least a song with strong hit potential in "Irreligious". Yes, it is rather simple and straight-forward but the catchy chorus works extremely well. Excellent production and modern, ear-twitching metal that grows on you.
7 of 10
By Vincent Eldefors
Angelseed and Demonmilk is a real mixed bag of an album. It mixes traditional metal with both industrial and synth music. The resulting album has to be one of the strangest metal albums I've heard this year. Surprising as it may sound, but the mixes of the three different musical styles has a strangely hypnotic effect on the listener. It really makes you wonder what the next track has in store. As each track unfolds you can feel yourself being dragged in to this strange world of vocalist and founding member IT. The album opener, and nominee for song title of the year, A Sleepover At The Feeling Of Death starts of as a traditional metal track with heavy bass and drums, then the techno side of the band steps in to completely throw you off balance. Lairs is more of the same, but this time you know what to expect and this is when you start to feel yourself being taking over. The album continues in the same vein throughout. Some of the highlights on the album have to be the mind-blowing Templo Mayor, and the title track Angelseed & Demonmilk. The album is like nothing I've heard before and probably won't ever again. But, if you want to hear something completely different, then check this album out, you'll be as surprised I was for sure.
By Barry - The May Fair Mall
En mycket underlig upplevelse. Jag är van att höra IT skrika och blöda bakom mikrofonen, men denna skiva börjar väldigt lugnt, ungefär med samma atmosfär som man kunde hitta i en Marilyn Manson låt. Mycket industri och rock flyter runt detta verk. Det finns inget att klaga på gällande hur skickligt framfört allt är. Alla i bandet har långa erfarenheter av musik, vilket märks. Produktionen fungerar bra.
Detta liknar inget Särkkä tidigare gjort. Notera det ni som vill ha tillbaka Abruptum, detta är Industri-Metal, en mörkare variant som osar av mörker och subtil skräck. Ni som gillar Mortiis och Pain kan eventuellt gilla detta. Skivan är väldigt lättlyssnad så det kan bli intressant att höra mer av dom i
framtiden.
Höjdpunkter: Demons, Humans without Disguise, Irreligious.
För dig som gillar: Mortiis, Pain, Marilyn Manson
6 of 10
By Jörgen Nyström -
Det här är andra fullängdaren från det svenska bandet 8th Sin. Debutalbumet Sinners Inc. har jag tyvärr missat, men gruppens synthrockiga hårdrock på Angelseed And Demonmilk blev en riktigt trevlig överraskning när den ljöd ur högtalarna första gången. Det vilda smattrandet från den elektroniska maskinparken i kombination med energiskt trumlir för tankarna till EBM (electronic body music) men gitarrerna, sången (som påminner lite om Venom) och låtstrukturerna känns som fullfjädrad, svängig och dansvänlig heavy metal. 8th Sin har verkligen lyckats att förena dessa två, stenhårda musikstilar. Att bandet dessutom knepat ihop elva spår där flertalet är riktigt bra, gör inte saken sämre. Däremot hade det varit coolt att få reda på vad låtarna heter, men det framgår varken av promokonvolutet eller pressreleasen. Å andra sidan kan jag upplysa om att Peter Tägtgren (Pain, Hypocrisy), denne arbetsnarkoman, dyker upp som gästartist på låten Liars och att vissa spår har grymma, operaliknande inslag som ger ytterligare tyngd och pondus till den här mäktiga och lekfulla symbiosen av industri- och hårdrock.
Det är inte ofta det dyker upp plattor som både är originella och skitbra i dessa dagar, men 8th Sin har gjort det och den här plattan kommer att rocka ofta, ofta, hemma hos mig.
8 of 10
By Robert Ryttman - Metal
Take RAMMSTEIN, MINISTRY, CRADLE OF FILTH, and MARILYN MANSON, heave them all into a musical blender, and what you pour out will be a tall glass of "Angelseed & Demonmilk", 8TH SIN's sophomore release. The addition of guitars and guitar parts presented with actual arrangements has already made this album far better than their previous release. Gone is the extreme techno edge of "Sinners Inc." in favour of more of the "Hard Rock" guitar sound ala NICKELBACK or any of those other cookie-cutter bands getting recognition lately. The keyboards have not gone away though. They are used throughout and often not to provide atmosphere as with most "Metal" bands, but to annoy more than anything with seemingly random blips, chirps, and bleeps sprinkled all through a number of the songs. In fact, I'm pretty sure I recall hearing one burp and possibly two farts too. To explain these odd sounds, picture this: the first time I heard the blips, I turned the stereo down and scrambled to find my cell phone, which I'm quite sure was ringing.
Vocalist IT has a somewhat broad range and there are hints of a number of vocalists including Glenn Danzig, Rob Zombie, VENOM's Cronos, and CRADLE OF FILTH's Dani Filth in his presentation. He also uses a number of vocal effects to mix things up a bit. The amalgamation of this guitar sound, the keyboard work (including random noises), and IT's evocative vocals certainly put 8TH SIN in a class of their own, at least as far as "Metal" is concerned. Admittedly, a few select songs have grown on me.
"Demons" has its moments with its haunting keyboards, Zakk Wylde "wah" guitarwork, and melodic, vocal harmonies. "Templo Mayor" is slow, very memorable, and grinds away at the listener. It has some actual song structure and is probably the catchiest on the album. I had to check the band's website to be sure because I swear that "Irreligious" could very well have been written (and performed) by MARILYN MANSON.
I can say this for certain: the production is very good, almost outstanding. I know this because in an attempt to make the majority of these songs sound better, I had the stereo cranked way up. Unsurprisingly, my efforts were ineffective. "Angelseed & Demonmilk" is the band's second sin... maybe their long-term plan is to get it right by number eight.
By Corey Bonnett
There's nothing quite like the sound of a small country getting invaded to get my loins girding, and this is the latest CD to get added to my 'invasion' pile. Like an unholy mix of Rammstein and Marilyn Manson the Swedish 8th Sin (not to be confused with the Dutch black metal outfit) have put together an absolutely cracking album.
The singularly monickered Michael (guitars), Y (guitars), IT (vocals), TG (drums), and Johan (bass) have managed to marry the brutality of metal, the technology of industrial and classic melodies to bring us, the humble public, and a rare treat. The noise they've managed to concoct is quite remarkable, taking the best elements of the above named artist and dropping samples, bleeps and swooshes as and where they see fit. Quite mad and quite delightful.
Most of the songs are underpinned by the keyboards with the guitars coming across as much classic rock as metal, and with vocalist IT they have someone who can call up the spirit of the Evil Elvis or drag himself down to the pit of filth, as required. The best tracks are "Demons" which has some splendid keyboard work and "Irreligious" which is the best song Marilyn Manson hasn't written in the past 5 years!
3,5 of 5
By Stuart A Hamilton Metal 4 Life,
Tony IT Särkkä är en produktiv man. Knappt ett år efter debuten kommer redan uppföljaren med hans elektro-metal-hybrid 8th Sin.De fläskiga riffen ligger helt rätt i ljudbilden, liksom samplingarna och de elektroniska rytmerna. Överlag känns det hela väldigt artificiellt, kallt och sterilt. Och det på ett positivt sätt. Jag kan nästan drista mig till att man rent produktionsmässigt ger de allra bästa inom genren en match!
By Martin Lee The power of metal,
Angelseed & Demonmilk, is the second album of
4 of 5
By Morticia Devine (Tess Egersdorfer ) Underground
In the first instant the hard metalworker will perhaps feel this album somewhat uneasy, but with the time you get used to the sounds. The mixture is a successful composition from Metal and Industrial and also very properly. From electronic sounds with hard guitar walls to modern steel is melted and the product is packed in a very hear-worthy production. The songs are not bad at all, but offers however never somewhat really world-moving or new. Result: The album is surely demanding for the metalworker, for Industrial fans it can however be too straight-lined. This album could be for people, which have desire on good made music, which is somewhere between both categories and does not attach necessarily importance on large musical requirement. Songs like "Demons" or "The Eight Sins (part II)" surely have their attraction.
57 of 100
By Oliver Schreyer Evilized