UMUR "Facing the Imminent Prospect of Death" is the 2nd full-length studio album by Danish crossover/thrash/groove metal act The Kandidate. The album was released through Napalm Records in January 2012.

On "Facing the Imminent Prospect of Death" the band continue the hard hitting and aggressive thrash/groove metal style that they initiated on their debut full-length studio album "Until We Are Outnumbered (2010)". The music features both hard hitting grooves, aggressive Slayeresque riffing and nods toward crossover/hardcore. At 31:06 minutes this is a short but furious blow to the head. Jacob Bredahl (Hatesphere) spits out his bile and anger in a most convincing raw manner that leaves no doubt, that he means business. The musicianship is strong on all positions though and it´s obvious that these guys are pretty seasoned on the Danish metal scene.

The band have chosen to include a couple of Danish language lyrics on the album, which is a new thing compared to the debut album, but it doesn´t change the fact that The Kandidate don´t fuck around. This is honest, aggressive extreme metal delivered with a live energy that´s greatly charming. They don´t play the most original music around, but who cares when the delivery is so convincing? A 3.5 - 4 star (75%) rating is deserved.

Time Signature Death...

Genre: crossover

Crossover thrash fans have something to look forward to in this album. Facing the Imminent Prospect of Death , The Kandidate's sophomore album and follow-up to Until We Are Outnumbered from 2010, has all the attitude and energy that makes good crossover.

With the opener, "Death", being the odd man out with its dissonant chords and more sludgy tempos, the listener is lead to believe that Facing the Imminent Prospect of Death is a regular sludge metal affair only to be taken by surprise as 'Beyond the Mind, Sleep You'll Find' bursts directly into an explosion of hardcore punk meets groove metal. And this pretty much sets the tone for the rest of the album. Thus you can expect thrashy and hardcore riffage side-by-side with heavier and groovier passages combined with the crushing brutality of sound of the downtuned guitars of modern death metal (there is a bit of death metal riffage every now and then, too).

So, the album definitely has a very appealing, but brutal, modern sound, which is definitely an asset, but, at the same time, it captures the energy of both old school thrash metal and, perhaps more importantly in this case, the energy and attitude of hardcore punk – in part generated by the Discharged-inspired drumbeats that appear an many of the tunes on the album.

A very solid example of modern crossover, Facing the Imminent Prospect of Death remind us of the great constribution elements of hardcore punk can make to metal music – even modern metal. Recommended to fans of Discharge, Pro-Pain, early Suicidal Tendencies and Agnostic Front, among others.

(review originally posted at seaoftranquility.org)

UMUR Until We Are Outnumbered is the debut full-length studio album by Danish metal act The Kandidate ( formerly known as The Downward Candidate). The album was released in January 2010 by Napalm Records. The band has stirred in the Danish underground metal scene for a couple of years but it was not until a name change took place, and when the band added former Hatesphere frontman Jacob Bredahl to the lineup, that things really started happening for the band.

The music on the album is rooted in thrash metal but there are also hardcore elements in the sound. It´s hard not to think just a little about Hatesphere because of Jacob Bredahl´s/B> distinct, strong and powerful vocal delivery, but other than the vocals The Kandidate don´t sound that much like Hatesphere. The songs on the album are strong and aggressive metal assaults and there´s enough variation to keep the listener´s attention for the only 32:48 minutes that the album lasts. Just take a listen to the hardcore punk influenced Distress and Decay and there´s your variation for you right there. While there are some melodic parts played by the guitar I could have wished for a solo here and there, but I guess that´s an aquired taste.

Jacob Bredahl has handled both recording, producing and mixing the album in his Smart´n´Hard studio in Aarhus, Denmark and it´s no surprise that the sound quality is very good and suits the aggressive music well.

Until We Are Outnumbered is a good debut album by The Kandidate. I don´t find it terribly original or innovative, but if you´re in for little over a half an hour of aggressive and catchy thrashy/ hardcore metal, this album should certainly apply. A 3.5 star rating is deserved.