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Post by rottenatomy on Mar 13, 2016 22:07:04 GMT 7
Xentrix - For Whose Advantage?Roadracer Records - 1990 (Re-Issued by Metal Mind Productions 2006) 1. Questions 05:10 2. For Whose Advantage? 06:21 3. The Human Condition 03:37 4. False Ideals 05:49 5. The Bitter End 05:18 6. New Beginnings 01:16 7. Desperate Remedies 04:50 8. Kept in the Dark 04:13 9. Black Embrace 03:51 10. Running White Faced City Boy (Gillan cover) 02:46 11. Pure Thought 05:43 12. Shadows of Doubt 06:09 13. Balance of Power 04:55 14. Kept in the Dark 04:25 15. Crimes 05:36 16. Ghostbusters (Ray Parker Jr. cover) 04:01 Paul "Macka" MacKenzie - Bass Kristian "Stan" Havard - Guitars (lead) Dennis Gasser - Drums Chris Astley - Vocals, Guitars (rhythm)
John Cuniberti - Vocals (backing) Professor Smithy Nicks - Speech (on "For Whose Advantage") Phlombe Pik - Vocals (backing)
Recorded in June 1990 at Loco Studios, South Wales. Mixed at Raezor Studios, London. Tracks 13-16 recorded live at Polytechnic 10 December 1990. Digitally remastered using 24-bit process on a golden disc.
Brian Burrows - Design Dave Higginson - Cover art Mark Flannery - Engineering Andrew Horsfield - Photography (band) John Cuniberti - Producer, Engineering, Mixing Doug Bennett - Engineering (assistant)[DOWNLOAD] * Rusfolder
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Post by rottenatomy on Mar 13, 2016 22:09:57 GMT 7
Xentrix - For Whose Advantage? (1990) [Japanese Edition]01. Questions (05:11) 02. For Whose Advantage? (06:21) 03. The Human Condition (03:38) 04. False Ideals (05:49) 05. The Bitter End (05:19) 06. New Beginnings (01:17) 07. Desperate Remedies (04:50) 08. Kept in the Dark (04:14) 09. Black Embrace (03:51) 10. Running White Faced City Boy (02:47) 11. Ghost Busters (Ray Parker, Jr. cover) (02:46) (Bonus)[DOWNLOAD] * Rusfolder (320 kbps)
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Post by Crucial Review on Mar 16, 2016 11:14:43 GMT 7
These guys were the perfect definition of power thrash by the late-80’s, a subgenre that combined the progression and sweetness of power metal with the character and attitude of thrash – yet the sensitive side and exhausting melody keep the material from Toxik, Flotsam And Jetsam, Annihilator and late Whiplash from being heavy or aggressive, the original perspective of thrash was getting adulterated for sure. So much complexity, so much tenderness, the punkish reminiscence and the NWOBHM influence were pushed away in favor of an accessible polite sound cheesy heavy metal groups as Blacklace, X-Hero or 3rd Stage Alert already defined but Xentrix incorporated more difficulty to the songs. The debut Shattered Existence was kinda generic and primitive, in contrast with the greatness of other subgenre records of that same year, revealing however certain peculiarities that made their stuff different from the rest but not completely singular. For Whose Advantage? is a refined sequel of its predecessor.
“Questions” and the title-track are solid songs, offering no particular variations from the debut’s sound – a similar methodology and determination is revealed: effective riffs and licks that evolve competently without getting specially complex yet, repeating some sections and giving vocals control on most sequences on which instrumentally, Xentrix push away complication. However, some lines start getting notably intricate and heterogeneous on “The Human Condition”, another tune including a repetitive verse, lots of lyrics and reduced percentage of instrumental parts, which are still concise – though as I mentioned, the diversity of riffs increases, slowly designing a more elaborated pattern other compositions like “The Bitter End” embrace with bigger pretention. Soon the British thrashers introduce notable complexity and start focusing on the instrumental basis of the tunes, eluding the dominant vocal-based sections of the first songs to put all emphasis on sophistication and difficulty. The second half of the record exposes a more technical approach – challenging cuts as “False Ideals” demonstrate the efficiency of the group as composers, song-structures are considerably versatile and unpredictable at times, presenting several meticulous arrangements and rhythm changes, instrumentally extended and of course, incorporating lots of harmonies and melody. The sensitive side of the band is exposed specially on that acoustic instrumental prelude, “New Beginnings”, featuring little birds singing, which is followed by unexpected aggression and speed. “Desperate Remedies” and “Kept In The Dark” are the most outrageous and crude numbers of the pack, starting really dynamic with sharp riffing, soon putting attention on more exhausting complexity and melody unfortunately, excessively at times – even some arrangements and tempo changes are so pretentious the group can’t elude clumsiness and chaos on their execution. So certainly, you’d better not expect roughness here, only mellowness and difficulty.
For Whose Advantage? offers average power thrash generally, even though some instrumental sequences are immaculately arranged, harmonies are refreshing and it’s true melody can make this kind of music charming and sophisticated at times, results ain’t totally satisfactory, specially when there were lots of other groups playing the same kind of music by 1990 and better. Xentrix offer certain creativity and passion on their music, they try hard to give their numbers complexity and constant progression, avoiding homogeneity of structures and simplistic schemes. Some of the cuts are written brilliantly, others are unreasonably pretentious, trying to be so technical and advanced the group collapses on their performance. There are some notable mistakes, goofs and imprecision here – technically they’re not as professional and skilled as Heathen or Watchtower at all, they might be competent song-writers but not extraordinary musicians. They seem to conceive fresh ideas occasionally but most of these titles are kinda unoriginal and unfocused, some sections are leading nowhere and lacking direction completely. Vocals ain’t very inspired either, Chris still loves making rhymes with words ending in “-ity” (“necessity” - “mentality”, “reality” - “vanity”, “priority” - “charity”, “insecurity” - “adversity”, “authenticity” - “humanity” - “futility” - “immunity” - “majority”, “brutality” - “atrocity”…well, I made my point) and his voice sounds completely generic and typical – Astley himself, Brian Zimmerman, Tony Benjamins, Chuck Billy, Steev Esquivel…I’d swear they were all the same guy. The abuse of sweetness and harmonies is another critical handicap that makes this music so commercially accessible and polite, there’s so much melody and cheesiness that denies the initial potential and energy some songs present. The excessively polished atmosphere production provides is certainly pushing away the intensity and ferocity of some riffs. Xentrix soon sound exhausted, predictable and unfocused, differentiation between songs is generally inexistent as the band repeats the same formula again and again.
Maybe if they did this album in 1984 it would’ve been innovative and alternative but by the early-90’s, the infamous power thrash trend was already predominant and popular. Making a difference from the rest was the only way to survive and Xentrix undoubtedly lacked originality. They weren’t astonishing performers, deprived of abilities and precision usually –Stan in particular is delivering a bunch of noisy chaotic solos with annoying pedal effects and of course, unavoidable dive-bombs mostly. However, all those ordinary vintage records have some charm and magic you won’t find nowadays so open-minded thrashers who can tolerate melody and sophistication will enjoy this but wasn’t fury, speed and rage what this kind of music was originally about?
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