Artist – Combichrist
Album – We Love You
Year – 2014
Genre – Aggrotech
Combichrist will tear you apart, both literally and metaphorically. If you love dance music AND metal/industrial, than I think you’ve finally found your perfect match! Or, if you’re looking for perfect angry music to play video games to, Combichrist was made for that task. The Norwegian band, led by frontman Andy LaPlegua, mixes metal screams with infections aggressive beats and samples galore. If you can’t tell whether you’re supposed to dance or mosh, then welcome to Combichrist! We’re glad you’re here.
Right off the bat, you know shit’s going down. The throbbing bass that starts the song quickly transitions to a pulsing beat and a stuttering heavy sound that sounds like a malfunctioning jackhammer. The band immediately knows that they’ve turned it up to 11 on this one, and this dub-like beat is loud and heavy, and forms the basis of the song. The song is actually quite layered and filled with intricacies. If you listen close, you can pick all all kinds of industrial sounds throughout the background of each verse.
The song is balanced between robotic clean vocals and LaPlegua’s trademark screams that cut right to the core. It provides a really neat dichotomy I haven’t seen in a Combichrist song. In any case, LaPlegua really let’s it all out on this song, and his screams will really get you pumped up to blow up some zombies, or go for a really long intense run…maybe from zombies.
The chorus has this really cool synth line going on in the background that adds just enough tinge of a melody to breathe some more melodic life into this track, which is great to hear. I always can appreciate a song that knows it’s heavy, but surprises you with melody as well.
As for the lyrics here, I once read a review of Combichrist that said that in order to fully appreciate the band, you have to sort of approach the lyrics and music with a nihilistic point of view. I don’t think that’s entirely true, as I think that any fan of harder music can appreciate what this band does, but certainly this song’s lyrics are, shall we say…patriotically nihilistic. Just keep that in mind. I mean, what were you expecting from a song called, “From My Cold Dead Hands?”
One cool thing to note is that the back and forth between LaPlegua’s anguished screaming and the cold robotic voice accentuates the song’s message of man vs. the system. I just love little musical tricks like that.
Overall, “From My Cold Dead Hands” is a heavy track that doesn’t disappoint whatsoever. The grinding beat and heavy bass will get you amped up, and the vocals keep you locked in for the ride. Any fan of heavier metal or dance music should definitely give Combichrist a shot. It’s pure aggressive motivation in a song, and I think you’ll find yourself getting stuff done right when you listen to it. Video games? Won. Going for a run? New fastest time. Housework? Wow, that was some hardass grease scrubbing you did on that pan!
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