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As a serious man, with responsibility resting upon my shoulders, I enjoy humor in the world, or at least the possibility for
humor. Without listening to this cd, the band name and album title shine through as potentially humorous. Why? First, there
is the word classic in their title. As from the appearance of the cover art, and the linear notes, it appears that the music
is not classic, so they have to be referring to something else. Also, I wonder if they thought through the fact that you might
actually Feel Like Hell while and after listening to this disc. (Not the cool feeling, but the torture, terror, and wishing
yourself dead.)
Aside from snide comments, this is a solid release, if you like music that takes ideas that have been around since At
The Gates- Slaughter of the Soul, and re-hashes them. The first three songs are very reliant upon the breakdown, and not upon
anything truly memorable or showing talent. Track 4, Amen to Artillery, has a neat melodic introduction, which then falls
apart as the song progresses. It seems that they are trying to be somewhat like The Red Chord or Dillenger Escape Plan with
the off-set drums and guitars, and vocals. It works for some bands, and for some bands, precisely since they have the technique
down for this style. Unfortunately, The Classic Struggle is missing this.
Now, a quick word about the production. I tend to abstain from commenting on production, as it seems very subjective.
Yet, I find that in this case I need to state that the guitars are buried in the mix, and you can barely hear what they are
doing. You can hear the rhythm guitar and bass drums doing the breakdown, but everything else the guitars are doing, it is
a struggle to hear.
Henceforth, my judgment is that they need to make a few purchases. The first thing that they need to spend their (or their
label’s) money on is a producer who will make the guitar work stand out, and the whole project sound not as muddy.
The second thing they need to purchase is a metronome, or a book on how to make and use click tracks.
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