I Nation - Sounds of the Sea

I Nation, formed by multi instrumentalist Dylan Nation is an industrial metal project hailing from Australia and states its sound as between NIN, Devin Townsend, Rammstein and Type O Negative. All these influences have come together to showcase the projects debut full length release titled 'Sounds From the Sea'.

Awaken - The opening track to the album start with ambient like pad synths and an arpeggio synth, more in the distance of the mix before a crash of ringing guitar riffs and drums come into the mix and then opening to an almost thrash like tempo reminiscent of newer Ministry. The growled vocals give the drive to the song while quickly switching to melodic vocals in the chorus with no effort at all keeping a well balanced sense of harmonic and melodic properties, helping to create a strong opener.

The Last Summer - Another ambient opener before guitars come in with melodic/clean vocals come to sing the verse, before suddenly going into a massive growl and back to the clean vocals to sing the chorus and leading to heavy and multiple layers of vocals creating a very dense vocal atmosphere. Then leading off to the bridge and breakdown where Tom fills and an ambient synth line take the lead, helping give the song breathing space before guitars appear back in the mix leading off into the ending of the track.

Grey Skies PT.1 - A quiet opening to "Grey Skies" with just synths and vocals present into the mix with the more familiar industrial metal grind comes back into it, upping the aggression to the vocals. A highlight I find to this track is the drum work it's well controlled, fills are well placed for maximum effect.

655/Walk on Water - A different approach to this song intro wise. Relying on guitar and vocals first, instead of the use of synths with drums. Also coming in very quickly in using Tom fills to accompany to vocals a different approach to an accompaniment. Another thing noticed is the track is a much more mid tempo. A highlight to this song would be the bridge and breakdown, some great keyboard work which at times is almost prog rock/metal like at times.

In This Moment - A more melodic track to the album, relying heavily on melodic keyboard lines and clean vocals throughout the track and a breath of fresh air to some of the previous tracks. One problem in this track that in some places the drums can be a little bit too quiet, but overall very well recorded and produced.

Deepest Blue - Another synth laden intro which reminded me of 'Jagged' era Gary Numan with it's haunting atmosphere, then becoming heavier with screams and a repetitive riff and quiet heavy breathing like vocals with heavy use of delays and reverbs, use of the quiet verses loud choruses like previous tracks to emphasize in heaviness in parts.

Time - An immediate starting with a high tempo for a few bars then eventually going to mid tempo dropping into the verse, then high tempo change and screaming in the chorus. The tempo changes are a great way of shaking the formula up and work very well. I found this track to be more guitar focused, with synths being more spaced out into parts of the songs, such as choruses and bridges to help create space.

Run Eternal - Another more melodic song for the release, with use of piano and more higher range guitar chords with primarily clean vocals are constantly helping to keep ideas fresh. Also in the chorus, heavy use of double bass of the drums, but even with something that is considered very metal it works well in the melodic sense. There is also guitar solos present later on in the song before the breakdown, after returning to the chorus and back into the guitar solo and into the end of the song.

Full Tilt (Till the End) - Finally the closing track opening with drums and synths the guitars creating a strong opening to the end, where often albums tend to slow down a little, but I Nation keep the tempo up right the way through this song, but still managing to signify the end. Also some good use of piano, again like the previous track to break the form up in places, before reverting back to the heaviness and atmospheric synths and melodic vocals.

So, my thoughts - A great change to reviewing the big industrial metal bands and good to find something very different in the use of ambient in songs. It's a great idea as opens up many possibilities to song writing, and ideas and some brilliant and melodic guitar and vocal work on the album which shows no sign of difficulty or struggling. However, I find that in places parts seem to be a little to loud in the mix and the use of ambient intros in many of the songs to get a little to repetitive, as well as the quiet verse loud chorus approach that is very common in industrial rock and metal. I will give the 'Sounds from the Sea' 7 out of 10 as there some great ideas and potential and a welcome the use of the ambient sounds. However, I find ideas and intros to be a little to tedious and too familiar to previous songs, but if this can be improved for future releases it will be greatly welcomed. Jul 10 2012