Eroded (Jpn) - IN (1994)

Genre: Doom/Death Metal/Grindcore
Country: Japan
Year: 1994

1. Blind Line
2. Eternal Corridor
3. Existence
4. Digital
5. IN
6. Monotone
7. Spiral-Staircase
8. Behind
9. Freestanding
10. Turning Time

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A MUST LISTEN! I posted Eroded's first demo some time ago, and expressed my shock at the brilliance from what was an entirely obscure band, and now we all finally have the privilege of listening to what promises to be the outstanding culmination of all the effort and potential oozing from their first release. You're in for a treat, that's for sure.

I'm noticing that this is far beyond a simple music album. This is a story. This is life. This goes to show how deep death metal can be. Demo 92 was highly intense death metal/grindcore showing no mercy, and that's exactly how this album starts off, with several fast-paced, brutal songs kicking it into overdrive, saturating the listener's perception of everything around them, and unrelentingly grasps a hold of his attention. My guess is that these were older songs written back in the Demo 92 days.

"Existence" is where we start to see a change of direction. It's subtle, and you have to be listening closely to pick up on it, but a touch of melody shines through, buried under the grinding guitars and snarling vocals. Clean vocals make an appearance in the background and some atmosphere is quietly laced around the edges. Incredibly well-done. "Digital" continues this transition... but to what? Eroded starts to shy away from the Grindcore right about now with the integration of Doom elements. If you didn't pick up on what those two tracks were trying to tell you, "IN" breaks it all loose with a gorgeous instrumental tune bursting with melody, yet somehow still retaining the essence of Eroded.

A very segmented album, and I'll try to wrap this up soon, but damn, there is so much going on in this profound release. Doom becomes the travelled path for the next few tracks until, you guessed it, another segment is hit! Tracks 8 and 9 pick up the pace a little more and actually take on what sounds to me like Hardcore fringes, especially noted in the screaming/yelling vocal style.

The last song is the perfect representation of Eroded and the distance they've come. Elements from the entire album are brought together here in this 7 minute song, concluding IN quite nicely. Eroded has definitely changed since their beginnings, taking a more melodic and progressive route, but at the same time, creating astounding musical brilliance that will not only appeal to the die-hard fans of their demo, but to anybody interested in metal at all.

So highly recommended.