COMMUNIC

Communic frontman Oddleif Stensland has spoken quite frankly in the press, including an interview for this very site, about the intensely personal nature of the Norwegian trio's new album. Lyrically 'The Bottom Deep' is a profound expression of the man's thoughts, feelings and relationship with death, and as he revealed to Metal Discovery is "based around one incident and all this came from somebody who was really close to me who passed away". Also stating that he seeks no sympathy from baring his soul and psyche in such a manner, 'The Bottom Deep' is something that he had to create for very personal reasons. However, as music is intrinsically linked with emotional expression (or, rather, that's what sincere and genuine music should derive from), the nine songs that comprise this release effuse affective sincerity and Communic just so happen to have made their finest album to date. Stylistically, the music is Communic through and through with their trademark blend of metal subgenres at work so we once again have a varied array of thrash, prog, groove, trad, doom and power elements. However, due to the personal narratives Stensland sings, the music has become purely at one with the words which has led to the heavier parts being the heaviest music Communic have ever recorded and the mellow, clean guitar passages more heartfelt and ardently expressive. 'The Bottom Deep' is an album of mixed emotions, of which ambivalence can genuinely be felt through the actual music. If you were to strip away the lyrics, it really feels as if the music is trying to say something in itself through the varied styles and different time signatures they deploy together with some subtle tempo changes. And this is also the best sounding album Communic have ever made - produced and mixed by the band themselves, and mastered by Dan Swanö it has a very natural sound to the production which lends itself well to the extremely subjective themes dealt with by the lyrics. Generally labelled as a prog-metal band by the press, Communic are most certainly progressive in one sense but don't let that put you off if prog-metal is not your usual listening fodder, for the band, and most certainly on 'The Bottom Deep', have created something with so much more to offer for fans all sorts of metal subgenres. If you've never bothered checking out Communic previously, then now is the time. An amazing album.

LABEL:

FORMAT:

Nuclear Blast

Album

THE BOTTOM DEEP

Review by Mark Holmes

RUNNING TIME:

55:10

RELEASE DATE:

22nd July 2011

TRACK LISTING

1) Facing Tomorrow
2) Denial
3) Flood River Blood
4) Voyage of Discovery
5) In Silence With My Scars
6) My Fallen
7) Destroyer of Bloodlines
8) Wayward Soul
9) The Bottom Deep

COUNTRY OF ORIGIN:

Norway

"...the nine songs that comprise this release effuse affective sincerity and Communic just so happen to have made their finest album to date."