I bought this cd-demo from the band’s bass player Noltie, whom I know from the scene here in Hengelo, Holland. It was only 2 euro`s so I bought this record instead of a beer.

I have seen the band live once and the first name that came into my mind was Caliban. Listening to the cd, I would also say Zao. And a bunch of other technical metalcore bands like December, Rembering Never or Machine Made God (check out this band!).

This cd is a mix of the bands above. Of course not as good as them, but I have to say they have some potential. There are some cool short guitar riffs throughout the songs (listen to “Into The Arms Of Despair”) that remind me of bands like Shai Hulud or Everytime I Die. The music is pretty good and the structures of the songs work very well.

The screams of singer Desmond vary from brutal screams, grunts and spoken word (like Caliban). “Set in Stone” even reminds me of old school hardcore, thanks to the vocals and the music.

What I miss on this record are the breakdowns that make this kind of music so aggressive and pleasurefull to listen to. Also, the production is not superb, but they recorded it for a few bottles of wine in some farm. Respect for that. By the way, they sell this demo for only 2 euro and it’s worth all two of them. You can mail the band at contrastruct@tomaatnet.nl.

Like I said, a band with potential. If you want to listen to dutch metalcoreband from a band that knows how to play this kind of music, you are right on with Contrastruct.