MAXMILLION (s/t) CD:
Does anybody remember the American Sludgecore band 16? If not, it doesn't matter but with Bobby Ferry and Jason Corley are ex-members of 16 on board of MAXMILLION. Four-stringer Chris Jones completes the line-up and shortly after, they've recorded the first demo in March 2002, that received a very positive feedback in the underground worldwide and the band was signed by Retribute Records for the release of their debut CD. Here it is one of my first impressions is the difference to Bobby's and Jason's former band 16. There are still similarities to them, but the sound of MAXMILLION is much heavier, filled with more hostility, very downtuned and wrapped up in a thick and massive production. 16 were more Hardcore influenced, while MAXMILLION got a sharp metal edge.
Sometimes, the sound is drifting in Tool-ish fields or it is spicked with brutal grooves, as in "Dilated Eyes" . The bands changes the tempo from a straight forward up-tempo ("Waste of Relation") to mid-tempo tracks ("Pure Black") or crushing slowed down themes ("The Angel that fell through Earth"), what enriches the whole atmosphere of the album. Instead of guitar-solos, the band often uses weird and noisy guitar-themes. Early 90's Death Metal and Thrash Metal bands are also on my mind, as Pantera or Grave while listening to MAXMILLION. So, it's not easy to pigeon-hole this band, but it's sure that this is a damn fine album, that contains eight promising songs. Maybe, the whole running-time could have been a bit longer than 29 minutes. But it's an excellent debut, and I hope that the band will deserve more attention. Recommandable for fans of Korn, too.
(KK)