Joe Stannard

With their new album, Nine have reached a nigh-on uncategorisable hybrid of sheer, monolithic heaviness. The energy of hardcore, the heft of metal and the swing of rock’n’roll all play a part in the Swedish band’s skull-cracking aural juggernaut. As soon as you identify a possible influence – a touch of Sepultura, a smidgeon of Entombed (whose LG Petrov provides guest vocals on “Them”) – they pull an unexpected move, such as the sparse, rhythmic “The Strategy Of Fear. The choppy “Discontent O.D” even drags Priest-like trad metal through a contemporary wringer, juicing out every last drop of aggression. Johan Lindkvist’s vocals deserve a special mention, his gravel-throated melodicism bringing to mind an album not in thrall to extremism for its own sake, but expertly balanced and devastatingly effective.   Read Full Review >>

ALEXANDER MILAS

Every time a riff sounds an angel breaks its neck.

'ARTISTIC' LICENCE aside, bands that claim hybrid influences are about as common as puke on a London bus stop. Steal a riff, pinch a beat, adopt an image; a record deal can't be far away. Sound familiar? Then get thee to a record shop, because Nine are showing those hackneyed charlatans what real metal's all about.

Combining the shit-kicking bombast of Converge with the full-on ferocity of Motorhead, 'Killing Angels' sees these Swedish sorcerers perfectly balancing the two extremes to create a sound that's wholly their own but doesn't shy away from crediting the old masters. From the fearsome cadence of 'Inferno' to the slaughtering hooks of 'Cardiac Arrest', this blasting follow-up to 2001's 'Light's Out' is a bi-polar fit of no-frills fury.


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