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6 out of 10
As their name suggests, Metz' metal kings X-Vision like to see what's beneath the surface of matters. Here we see them rip open the cults of celebrity (Theater of Appearances), the military (Paper Plane) and humanity itself (pretty much the whole album, really). Unfortunately, despite their gnat's-chuff tightness and hammer-blow riffs the first half-dozen tracks come across as frantic but feeble. And this includes what is presumably intended as the album's centrepiece, the towering twins The Sky Never Lies and The Sky Was True ('Dolphins don't smile anymore', apparently. 'Worms choke in the ground'. You get the idea - the planet's buggered).
No - it is the final five tracks which get the heart hammering and the spine straightening. The acoustic disturbia of And Now? quickly makes way for Early Mental Release, arising as it does to grip the brain and slam it against a brick wall for about four minutes. 'I can see but nothing goes beyond my retina' hiss-growls Pierre Pauly, which probably loses something in translation but you should be too busy trying to part your head from the rest of your body to care. The roots are there for those who care to see with the remainder of the album. And they use a cowbell. Now, about that support slot with Slayer. . .
Listen: www.myspace.com/xvision
Tracklist:
1. Paper Plane
2. The Green Light
3. Deadly Adornment
4. Blow On Ashes
5. The Sky Never Lies
6. The Sky Was True
7. And Now?
8. Early Mental Release
9. Cut Off
10. Self-Abnegation
11. Theater of Appearances
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