Dark Fiber In The Press
Check out this review of Dark Fiber courtesy of German language metal site BloodChamber.de. Our friend Suzie provided the following English translation for those of you who don’t speak German:
When I was going around on all fours through the internet link through link, I suddenly landed on the homepage of a, until now, totally unknown US metal band called Backmask. Since “metal” is not always exactly metal and the cover on Dark Fiber does not lead me into a certain direction then I need to make myself a little smarter; and as seen, both musicians name as their influences bands such as Soilwork… Now that makes me curious.
Right away the first song “New Revelation” goes straight through the wall and swings like a wrecking ball, the reason could be in the beginning of the CD the bass is very over-proportionate. Luckily that ends rather quickly and for the rest of the 85% of the playing time one can enjoy the high-end production demo. But what kind of music is Backmask actually? I asked Hauptmann [another BloodChamber.de editor], and he said that it is not very easy. It could most likely be considered Modern Melodic Progressive Thrash Death Metal, but again, not really. It starts in the direction of Modern Thrash Death, the middle part goes back to Melodic Death Album and it ends as Progressive Death Metal. Everything clear so far? The best thing about the album is that it switches among the genres which shows it quality as an album. The main memorableness of the band lies with the melody, which in the refrains sound very Swedish and the instrumental was set wonderfully into the scene. That again is underpainted by a very variable voice, which can both growl and sing, and both are cleanly met.
Whoever wants an overview of Dark Fiber, you can listen to the first song of the album or for those who have more time, enjoy the 9 minute progressive highlight “Prisoner of Mind,” where the band shows all that it is capable of. The complete CD is available for download on the bands homepage and they start at $9.99. With the dollar being where it is at the moment, spending only that much for a CD of this quality is a joke.
