Wow! What the fuck was that? Did someone just throw a bomb into my bedroom? I can still feel the energy flowing around me. Wait, I can see something. It's a CD. It says Steep on it. Is it dangerous? Is this what caused the explosion? Let's see. I'll open the case carefully...
Steep is a Tampere-based Thrashcore band. They established their new lineup in 2002 when they also released a promo CD titled Rearrange. After releasing a new MCD, Undisclosed (2004), they managed to sign a deal with Dies Irae Records. Having changed their lineup once more, recruiting a new guitar player, 2006 finds Steep releasing their new album titled Silence Is Not Golden.
After the dramatic and fully theatrical intro and some clues about the band's biography, I can relax and write down a few things about this Finnish gang over here. How can I relax when this album made me headbang from its first note to its last? It's not a CD. It's a bomb that has been disguised in order to show us that there are still bands with big balls out there. All we have to do is open our eyes and see them wide and clear. It's just that all these big bands attract all the attention and the underground remains... the underground.
I really don't know how many times I've listened to Silence Is Not Golden. This band surely has the rhythm flowing through its veins. Great songs with a solid structure that knock you down and leave you on the ground screaming for mercy. There's no way that the listener can get bored. Either you want it or not, Steep come out of the blue to show you how Metal is played. I just can't understand how Finland has such a band, when every other Finnish band plays Power, Gothic or Black and uses melody and melancholy as its basic ingredient.
Steep use as their basic ingredients: hate, anger, disappointment and disgust. Lyrics about politics and social rejection make the album as strong as possible. Their obvious disgust about the politics and everything that destroys us nowadays is expressed in a magnificent way through the voice of Kuusinen.
You can also find two bonus tracks from Undisclosed EP (2004) as well as a bonus track from their Demo release Rearrange.
This band is one of the best new talents. But it's a long way to the top and they have to struggle in order to reach it. Anyway, I don't think they'll have any problems getting there. Beware, Steep haven't said their final word...
- Album Highlights: Silence Is Not Golden, Devouring, Legions Of Hate and Unnatural Disaster.