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Betrayer
My Twisted Symphony EP
(Raven - 1998)
An older Israeli band that started in 1992, released a few demos and this EP, didn't develop further and broke-up into other bands. The band is well known locally mainly because the front-man (Yishay Swearts) is very active in the scene, running a mail-order store, label and promoting and arranging concerts. They developed from mediocre thrash metal to promising-but-not-quite-there-yet technical death-thrash. This one sits right on the border of thrash and death, but is enjoyable if listened to as a thrash album with extra elements. These elements include spare, judiciously-used background keyboards that add a nice layer to the sound only when needed (sometimes adding a bit of symphonic black-metal sound which somehow works), some stop-and-go thrash-death, and some interesting slightly more progressive compositions. Some detected influences are Death, At the Gates, Meshuggah, Machine Head and Annihilator, but the blend of sounds can also come off as original. Vocals are acceptable-but-not-great barking growls. Some tracks lack momentum and build-up, feeling too short for their more ambitious approach, as if they worked hard to make them interesting, but then didn't develop the climactic final development of the song. Other tracks work quite well and are very nicely done. In short, this is largely an enjoyable but short release that can be checked out at your leisure.
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