'Error In Evolution', the second full length release from swedish thrashers One Man Army and the Undead Quartet is the epitome of a modern metal record. From full on thrash assaults, hardcore barks and death metal grunts, to melodic lead guitar work, clean vocals and even a bit of tongue in cheek lyrical content, this record has it all.
"Mine For The Taking" is classic death thrash, only with a few modern accents. The incorporation of dual vocals interspersed with a more raspy screamed vocal in the chorus brings to mind the likes of Soilwork's Speed, and even Jesse Leach era Killswitch Engage. "Knights In Satan's Service" could very well be a veiled reference to the supposed meaning of (rock band) Kiss' name, while the chorus of the song itself comes off somewhat corny, with Johan actually spelling out the word K-I-S-S in full on death growl.
Mikael Lagerblad leadwork is razorsharp, and is easily on par with the likes of genre heavyweights such as Michael Amott, Jesper Stromblad, and Ola Frenning, amongst others. Johan's showcasing of a more varied vocal ability also helps to set the band apart from the rest, borrowing from american metalcore with his raspy aggressive screams, and the dual death vocal layers that are widely used by today's more extreme deathcore bands.
The last couple of tracks on the album sees the band incorporating soaring clean vocals. The Alice Cooper cover "He's Back (The Man Behind The Mask)" kicks in with a great bass intro, and has an almost completely clean chorus, with only a few backing death grunts. The cover itself is quite comical, as it's always fun to hear a more extreme band cover hard rock and heavy metal classics. On the other side of the spectrum, "Heaven Knows No Pain" opens with a full on thrash attack that leads directly into an acoustic passage with a bit of spoken word and clean screams that were obviously influenced by american metalcore. Not entirely expected, but interesting nonetheless.
