Atmospheric Death Metal is certainly a new wave nowadays, usually coming from bands that are located in Northern Europe (especially Sweden). For the majority of metalheads, that is the obvious connection (Scandinavia - Atmospheric Death Metal) with bands like In Flames and Dark Tranquillity hailing the flag for the genre. But what about Southern Europe? Is there anything interesting going on there or do metalheads only listen to Rhapsody in Italy? Of course they don't...
Node  is an Italian Death Metal band which started playing grind/death back in 1994 and ended up playing like a Swedish Death Metal band, obviously influenced by the new wave from Scandinavia. Is that bad? I wouldn't say it's bad, I'd just say it's pretty common and they certainly didn't surprise me. So, what's Das Kapital all about after all?
Das Kapital is an eleven-tracked release, with a crystal clear production and a hammering quartet behind the instruments.  The drums (Marco di Salvia) and bass (Klaus Mariani) are pretty technical, providing a strong rhythm substructure for Daniel Botti and Gary D'Eramo's guitars and vocals. Everything seems fine, what's bothering me though is the fact that I feel these guys lack of inspiration. Meaning that there are moments I feel I'm listening to Soilwork (like in War Goes On, it reminds me of Soilwork's A Predator's Portrait album) or In Flames (Retreat '42 gives me that feeling).
Why spoil such a good production and obviously their talent on something people can find in already well-known bands. Why don't they try creating their own style, without necessarily loosing that Melodic Death feeling they seem to be into? I'm not punishing these guys, I'm just being frank and to show you that I'm not that harsh after all, let me just say that they do show signs of inspiration in a few tracks (like One Way Media) but that's simply not enough. It takes more than a crystal clear production, four good musicians and a cover for Queensryche's Empire to accomplish something unique.
Ups, did I mention something about a Queensryche cover? Well yes, they do have a Death Metal version of Empire on Das Kapital which I'm not quite sure people will accept it very easily (especially the Queensryche fans). That basically has to do with whether you consider transformations of classic Heavy Metal songs into Death versions a good idea or not. I don't mind that much, after all I told you Node are good musicians.
Mark my words and they'll help you figure out if you'll buy this album or not (it's always up to you, no matter what someone else's opinion is): Good musicians, kick-ass sound engineering, Death Metal like Soilwork and In Flames...but low on original ideas.