:: Coldworker - The Contaminated Void

Coldworker

It took a year after the demise of Swedish grindcore act Nasum (due to the untimely death of vocalist/guitarist Mieszko Talarczyk, who was a victim of the Asian tsunami disaster) for drummer Anders Jakobson to find the inspiration to put together another band, but within a short six months, he’s returned to the drum stool within a group formed under the moniker of Coldworker, and who quickly put together their debut offering ‘The Contaminated Void’. Unlike Nasum, Coldworker is essentially a death metal act, with only subtle shades of Jakobson’s grindcore past filtering through, making ‘The Contaminated Void’ a little unexpected sound wise initially for Nasum fans, but enjoyable none the less for the most part. A strong Cannibal Corpse influence is heard within the opening riff of the album’s lead off track ‘The Interloper’, but it isn’t long before the rest of the band join in, giving Coldworker a different, if somewhat familiar sound, which invariably allows the band to dodge the Cannibal Corpse clone syndrome. The follow up track ‘D.E.A.D.’ boasts a great groove and solo moment, while the darker and slower introduction of ‘An Unforgiving Season’ is quickly cast aside as the band go straight for the throat with its speed induced jump after the preliminary setting is forcibly thrown aside. For the remainder of the album, Coldworker rarely break out of the mould set down with the opening trio of tracks. But having said that, there’s plenty of variation and downright brutal moments to keep any self-respecting fan of modern death metal entertained, or at least until the band establish a sound that’s rightfully theirs, and theirs alone.