Lock Up
Demonization
Released March 10th 2017
Shane Embury
Kevin Sharp
Nick Barker
Anton Reisenegger
First started as a side project by Shane Embury, they are now on to their fourth album this time featuring Kevin Sharp on vocals. I had to go back and listen to “Pleasures” with Peter Tagtgren , and then albums with Thomas Lindberg on vocals to be able to compare Kevin to both. I have seen some people express dissatisfaction with this album, and a lot comparing Kevin to Thomas. However to really give Kevin the benefit of the doubt he needed to be heard alongside the Tagtgren style also. And after listening to a lot of Lock Up recently, I can honestly say, I really enjoy this album. Kevin is a great fit in my opinion. However one thing I really picked up on was the fact that Nicolas Barker had more range on his drums and the clarity of his drums are fucking crisp. If you have been under a rock and don’t know who Nicholas Barker is, or have known any of his other bands. He played with Cradle of Filth on five albums including Cruelty and the Beast, as well as Dimmu Borgir and a handful of other bands with albums an E.P.’s. but the one thing I always wished you could get from a Lock Up album was to get better sound of Nicks Drums. But with songs like “The Decay Within The Abyss” Nick rattles off a roll out on the toms that you just didn’t get on previous albums. It has just that much more to offer than previous albums when it comes to the drums in my opinion. The album starts out with “Blood And Emptiness” a solid opening track, music starts out hard and fast after a short sound clip. They slow it down, but you hear the first example of Nick’s drums being so crystal clear around the :53 second mark. This is the moment when my ears perked up, and I knew that this album was going to be a good listen. The song goes through a few tempo changes but really maintains a heavy dose of death grind in typical Lock Up style. They follow up with The Decay Within The Abyss” and that tracks starts right out of the gates with such a clean and fluid rollout on the toms before engaging an arsenal of blast beats. This song really gets the listener amped up with plenty of blast beats but also riffs that provide a thick layer of groove. I find I enjoy this album so much because of the added elements with this album. Nick is an unbelievable drummer, the guy has so much talent and unless you were a fan of his, you might not realize it. I think in all previous albums my biggest gripe was even though nick was the drummer, his name in the credits. I just didn’t hear the Nick Barker I had listened to for years. To be honest the only reason I became a Lock Up fan in the first place was because I saw Shane Embury, and Nicholas Barker were in a band, and I knew it was going to be cool. There are still tracks like “Locust” that are basically saturated with grinding blasting mayhem that are going to keep the die-hard’s satisfied. I really have enjoyed my time listening to this album. The album has the same raw aggression as previous albums, but it has Kevin Sharp on the microphone, and that adds a few other spices blended into this album. Kevin has a bit of a blend between Tagtgren and Lindberg almost down the middle, he has similarities to both vocalists prior. I dig this album, and I like what Kevin brings to the mix, but being able to hear Nick’s drums with more free range and crisp sound really helps out. 8.5 / 10 \m/
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