discussion about the song "Slave to the Parasites"   -  GryphonMetal  team's opinions -

may The Arrival (and the rounds) begin! 

JARNO WILDE   DALIA DI GIACOMO         MATTHEW HAUMSCHILD        ALBERTO SCREMIN

'Slave to the Parasites' is the first song I heard of Hypocrisy's upcoming album 'The Arrival', of which
the release date has been set on February 16. It's a song that you can compare to the style of the 
album 'Hypocrisy'(1999). The album was recorded in the Abyss studio from Peter Tägtgren.
The production is good as we are used to from Hypocrisy. The guitar-sound is heavy and sharp in
the high regions. The drums are well balanced with the bassguitar; so you get a good drive in the song.
'Slave to the Parasites' is a mid tempo arrangement with a melancholic atmosphere. In my opinion
the typical Hypocrisy sound and song structure. When I hear the first few tunes, it sounds a little bit like 
'Fire in the Sky'. 

song rating:  9/10 

Jarno Wilde 

dalia "gryphon-spirit" di giacomo

To tell the truth this song leaves me in deep perplexities. The general soundscape maintains that kind of mark typical fror Hypocrisy:  that certain hypnotism we can find  in Fire in the Sky and Roswell 47,for example. Only,  imo there are many "minus" points.  This  song is melancholic  with a good aggressivity ,  and  enters immediately into our ears, yes, but it sounds also very monotone and boring after a while.. The instrumentation is heavy , but.... but some sonorities  seem to belong to  In Flames , and  some guitar passages   pre-launching  the refrain remind me of a certain  Helloween-technique (guuulp!) and the musical structure is, after all, simple and easy enough: that's why the related monotony. The worst is that  Slaves to the Parasites, if performed a bit less heavy, could be a song for Pain. Fortunately   vocals are set low, growling,  obscure and angry enough to add some evilness to phrases, that only an able make up indeed allows to put this Pain into a Melodic Death in disguise, which  actually of Melodic Death doesn't have really much, beginning from the lack of a vigorous double bass drumming done with 2 tonalities, or at least it sincerely seems to me from the track we have (in some way the bass drums don't appear optimal) . Another piece of the collage: the pounding rhythmic of the bridge could belong to Metallica. Ah bahh nothing exceptional ,though sufficient , now let's sharpen our pens for the whole review! from the moment Mr. Tägtren told that this album has a "variety" of songs, is there a hope for better stuff? heheh let's maintain the suspence and let's wish to Hypocrisy good luck...in particular this year , when also their label mates Kataklysm will release their new creature!! ...though, if Kataklysm don't make a mistake, and i don't think, there is not much luck to evoke , ...better to pray??

song rating:  6/10 = aurea mediocritas

dalia di giacomo

Matthew "Matt" Haumschild

I saw this band about a month ago for the first time, and that was the first I had heard them. But I had only seen them and heard them play once. I rather like this song. It sounds alot like In Flames would sound, granted, it is only one song. I bet the rest of the album is pretty aggressive. From the sound of it so far, it sounds as if the band went top notch in it's recording efforts. One of the things I don't like about the song is the title "Slave To The Parasites" doesn't exactly make sense. Parasites either kill you or they don't, they don't exactly tell you what to do. The hole song, may sound a little monotnous, but it is addicting! It's one of those songs that you could sing along to. In a way this song sounds ALOT like "Only For The Weak" by In Flames. But this song still sounds good to me.

song rating:  4/5  

Matthew Haumschild

Alberto "AMB" Scremin

Ok, i’ll be honest: this is the very first time in my life that i hear something from HYPOCRISY. Obviously it’s a while i hear their name as one of the best nord european metal band, but, i don’t know why, i never heard anything of their stuff. I’m telling you this cause i want you to know that my review’ll be only about this single song, and won’t regard the whole music of the band, its past or its evolution.

So, as for “Slave to the parasites”, i don’t like this song. The first adjective that comes to my mind is: boring. In fact this song is too long, and even if its start is very good, after three minutes it has nothing more to say and becomes dull and repetitive until its end. After a lot of listenings not a single part of  “Slave to the Parasites” has stucked in my mind, every time slides away leaving me nothing more than the first time i heard it.

And if these are only my opinions, there is an accusal that nobody can rebut: bands such as CEMETARY played this kind of music about ten years ago...i mean, a lot of time passed by, and i think we all would like to hear something new and something different, aren’t we?

song rating:  5/10

Alberto Scremin  

[ I Despair ]

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