Last year Himsa signed with record label Century Media after having their previous albums released through Prosthetic Records. On this new album Summon In Thunder they got help from some big names like Tue Madsen and Devin Townsend. I wondered if this band who I think a lot of people see as just another metalcore act, have expended their boundaries because of these changes.

 

The first thing I noticed when I turned on this CD was the intro of the song �Reinventing The Noose�. Of course this is not a surprise because it�s the first song, but when I said notice, I meant really surprised. This intro, and other ones like on �Giving In To The Taken� and �Hooks as Hands�, resemble the Swedish Gothenburg sound of for example The Haunted and In Flames. This got my attraction right away and made me curious about the rest of this album.

 

Unfortunately later on these songs turn into the older style of Himsa, which is just pretty much standard metalcore �been there, done that�. At the end of the CD songs like �Unleash Carnage�, �Ruin Them� and title track �Summon In Thunder� haven�t got anything special about them at all. This was kind of a bummer, but still I noticed the band has made some progress since their previous release Hail Horror in 2006. The guitar riffs are more melodic than they were before. Thrash and melodic death metal influences are present and the singer is trying to be less hardcore sounding. I don�t think he really succeeded, but his vocals are suited for their music anyway. Another thing experimental about this album in comparison to their previous work are the two songs �Skinwalkers� and �Den of Infamy�. They start with a long instrumental intro and turn into excellent melodic death metal songs, made complete by guitar solos.

 

You shouldn�t listen to Himsa when you�re looking for something new and inspiring. On the other hand, you should really listen to this CD when you like modern thrash/deathcore, pinch harmonics and you�re not expecting to discover something that hasn�t been done before. I hope they can create a sound of their own on the next album.