Radiant Knife
The Body

Sometimes you need a radiant knife to cut out the things you need, or carve something from a piece of wood, or whatever you want to use a knife for. Sometimes bands that call itself Radiant Knife make albums called Science Fiction, I wrote about such an album a few years ago and liked it. Now this same band returns with not just one release, but two albums, short ones but two nonetheless – the first one called The Body is released very soon and the second one will arrive in October. I have been playing this one pretty hard for a while now and perhaps I have figured a few things out.

I think that this is pretty similar to Science Fiction that I reviewed earlier, the same style of music that is sludge, or stoner metal, with progressive approaches and some strong atmospheres. There are some slurry vocals that are there, but it is the riffs and the soundscape that you notice when listening to the album. The production is good, I like the sound of this album, but it might not stand out as much as it could have, they have some fresh ideas but don’t really use them to make something that stands apart from the rest. The five tracks kind of flow into one another and before you know it, the album ends without really catching one – at least you cannot claim that it is too long.

This is a good album, there is no denying that as the songs are all good, the sound excellent and they have some fresh ideas. Problem is that these ideas are not really made into something outstanding, that is what is missing the factors that makes a good album outstanding – I don’t find them here. One such example would be a really strong hit song, more fantasy, imagination, more dynamics, more of an adventure in the radiance of the progressive and sludgy areas of the metal world. It is good but doesn’t make too much of an impact and that is not just down to the smaller stature in terms of minutes and tracks.

I thought that the previous release Science Fiction could have, and should have, been better considering that this band has some cool novel ideas and such. The same can be said about The Body, it is there but perhaps not fully. Sure you will not be disappointed but I am not sure that too many of you will be elated – perhaps it is meant to be a precursor to an excellent release called The Ghost, or perhaps not, we will know that in October. If you like the genre and the similar stuff I recommend that you have a look at this one.

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