Former Slayer drummer, Dave Lombardo's new band Grip Inc. has released their sophomore effort "Nemesis". Grip Inc. lie within power and thrash metal, incorporating elements of both genres.
Lombardo was once the supplier of the driving percussion in the glory days of Slayer, but eventually left and formed his own band. Almost surprisingly he has surrounded himself with a very good band. The foremost member, besides Lombardo, is Waldemar Sorychta. Besides producing albums for other bands this guy is also a highly skilled guitar player, who specializes in deriving very unusual sounding guitar tones and utilizing these tones in distinctly unique riffs. The vocalist for Grip Inc. is Gus Chambers. His delivery basically consists of a variety of shouting and screaming, with a bite to it similar to true punk vocals. His range isn't anything special, but this vocal style doesn't detract from the overall effort. Naturally, the focal point of Grip Inc. is bound to be Lombardo himself. As always, the double bass drumming is solid and spectacular in places. In the final track entitled "Code Of Silence" Lombardo breaks loose in a frenzy invoking images of a man with eight arms. A nice addition to Nemesis is the incorporation of keyboards into several of the tracks. The best example of this is "The Summoning", in which the chorus has a background synth melody, a Sorychta solo and whispered vocals. This creates an atmosphere not normally present in a Grip Inc. song. Other songs such as "Scream At The Sky" prove that Grip Inc. can produce more than just run of the mill thrash metal. Overall Nemesis is a very good progression from their first album, and should denote good things to come.
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