Nurzery [Rhymes]- Thorns

ARTIST: Nurzery [Rhymes]
ALBUM: Thorns
LABEL: COP International
REVIEWER: Matthew J.
DATE: 3-9-08

One of the better acts to emerge from the current terror EBM scene, Nurzery [Rhymes] take a workmanlike approach to the genre, crafting tracks that are competent without being particularly showy. You won't find a lot of endless synth builds or massive orchestral digressions here; even the instrumental interludes simply show up just long enough to create a brief intermission, then gracefully exit the stage without stealing the show. What that leaves is solid, club-ready EBM with hard beats, dark synthesizers, creepy samples, and aggressive vocals. Like many of their contemporaries, Nurzery [Rhymes] incorporate elements of both trance and industrial into their sound, and songs generally fall into one of two categories. There's the frantic trance-infused onslaught of "Bloodline" and "Circle of Pain," and there's the heavier, more industrialized stomping of "Stigmatized" and "Defy." The vocal production takes a middle path, distorted enough to emphasize the music's aggression, but clean enough to make out the lyrics, not to mention vocalist Christian Riemer's German accent (it's actually a tribute to his vocal abilities that the unintentionally comedic mispronunciation on the chorus doesn't at all detract from the threatening intensity of "Coroner"). Solid from start to finish, this album comes highly recommended, especially to fans of groups like Psyclon Nine and Grendel.

Visit Nurzery [Rhymes] online at www.nurzery-rhymes.de.