Human Target (Album)
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| Thy Art Is Murder studio album | |||||||||
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Publication |
26th July 2019 |
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2019 |
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| Label (s) | Nuclear Blast , Human Warfare | ||||||||
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Format (s) |
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Title (number) |
10 |
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running time |
38 min 28 sec |
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Studio (s) |
Graphic Nature Audio |
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Location (s) |
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Human Target is the title of the fifth studio album by the Australian death metal / deathcore band Thy Art Is Murder , which was released worldwide on July 26, 2019 via Nuclear Blast .
The album has ten tracks with a total playing time of 38 minutes and 28 seconds. With Human Target , Death Squad Anthem and Make America Hate Again, three singles were released in advance for the album. On the day the album was released, the group released a fourth single, New Gods .
It is the first album with Jesse Beahler on drums , who replaced the previous drummer Lee Stanton.
Emergence
In an interview with the German FUZE Magazine , guitarist Andy Marsh stated that it took him between three and four weeks to write the lyrics. He moved into the studio in mid-November 2018 and started working on new material. Since he was off during the Christmas holidays, he wrote his last notes on New Year's morning . The recordings in the studio only took two weeks.
The Berlin illustrator Eliran Kantor , who has already designed artwork for Hatebreed and Venom Prison , was responsible for the cover design . Marsh had only given him the music and the lyrics to the request to design a cover for the album. When the band chose Human Target as the album title, Kantor had already made a draft for the record cover. It shows the wheel of chain mail rolling over a mountain of people.
Lee Stanton, the previous drummer, withdrew from the group for private reasons, so that he was replaced by the former Jungle Red drummer Jesse Beahler, who had stepped in for Stanton from time to time in the past.
The album was produced and mixed by Will Putney , who has worked with the band in the past, at Graphic Nature Audio in Belleville , New Jersey .
Musical background
The songs on Human Target are about oppression . Andy Marsh, who is responsible for the music and the lyrics, testified that the album was not consistently religious or politically motivated. The title song Human Target, for example, is about organ harvesting . Marsh's wife read an article about people being murdered in Chinese prisons and then having their organs removed. The album title was chosen because, according to Marsh, organ harvesting is the greatest of all oppression.
Another play is about sexual assault on women . The song New Gods uses religious imagery to describe the social media that dictate what is right and wrong. In Chemical Christian it comes again to the power of the pharmaceutical industry in terms of anti-depressants . Make America Hate Again is a politically influenced track by the band, although this is in no way an anti- Republican song. Marsh sees himself as being left of the political center and therefore does not describe himself as a friend of Donald Trump's politics . In an interview with the US music magazine Billboard , he said that the last election in 2016 turned Americans against each other.
Publications
On April 26, 2019, the day the album was announced, the group released a music video for the title track Human Target . On June 7th, a music video for the song Death Squad Anthem was released . Less than a month later, on July 5, 2019, the band released a third song, Make America Hate Again, along with a music video. On the day the album was released, the band also released their fourth single, New Gods .
Track list
| No. | title | theme | Playtime |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | Human target | Organ harvesting | 3:31 |
| 2. | New Gods | Social media , depression | 3:01 |
| 3. | Death Squad Anthem | 3:13 | |
| 4th | Make America Hate Again | politics | 3:14 |
| 5. | Eternal suffering | 5:05 | |
| 6th | Welcome Oblivion | 3:36 | |
| 7th | Atonement | 3:59 | |
| 8th. | Voyeurs Into Death | 3:30 | |
| 9. | Eye for an eye | 4:55 | |
| 10. | Chemical Christ | Pharmaceutical industry | 4:24 |
criticism
Human Target received an overwhelmingly positive response in the German-speaking media . Philip Zimmermann writes for FUZE Magazine that the band has succeeded in producing an album that takes up both profound and content-related topics and, musically, delivers a pure Death Metal album. Zimmermann goes on to say that the musicians criticize society , politics and the pharmaceutical industry in their pieces with the overarching theme of "oppression" . Due to the increased use of breakdowns , which are paired with a fast and intermittent style of playing, the songs are temporarily reminiscent of the band's song No Absolution .
Thomas Strater from the German Metal Hammer describes the music as a well-known mixture of bludgeoning, heavy grooves and breakdowns, over which the angry organ of the singer Chris "CJ" McMahon is enthroned. Strater notes that the musical break between Holy War and Dear Desolation was good for him. He predicts that the band will continue their triumphant advance with Human Target . Jan Wischkowski from the online magazine Metal.de sees a musical development of the band. In this way, the group appears more variable and more targeted in songwriting. Especially in the details, Wischkowski makes a few “Aha!” Moments, such as in the “vehemently presented Welcome to Oblivion ”, the “ double bass sounding like barrage in Voyeurs Into Death ” or the surprisingly melodious Chemical Christ , which “in the meantime in the tense, calm atmosphere creates a certain depth ”and therefore represents a“ fantastic finale ”according to critics. At the Metal.de soundcheck, the album landed in second place, tied with Oscilliation from the band Oh Hiroshima .
Simon Krause from Powermetal.de also sees that certain something hidden in the details. He sees this in the more measured use of breakdowns, the disharmonious sounding guitars that are close to pure Death Metal , the occasional built-in mosh parts, and the ability to break down their songs to the essentials. Krause also emphasizes that the beloved “religion bashing” does not appear on the album and that Human Target has become an all-round socially critical album. The musicians denounce organized criminal organ trafficking, addictive behavior and culture, the psychological mutilation of people through social media, privatized prisons and the revenge of the earth on people. He describes the album as a ruthless, social all-rounder and describes the album as the soundtrack that modern mankind needs now.
Individual evidence
- ^ A b c d e Philip Zimmermann: From oppression and touring fathers . In: Ox-Verlag (Ed.): FUZE Magazine . tape 77 , August 2019, p. 14 .
- ↑ a b c d Philip Zimmermann: From oppression and touring fathers . In: Ox-Verlag (Ed.): FUZE Magazine . tape 77 , August 2019, p. 15 .
- ↑ a b Joe DeVita: Thy Art Is Murder Release 'Human Target' Video, Announce Album. Loudwire , April 26, 2019, accessed July 26, 2019 .
- ↑ a b Bradley Zorgdrager: Thy Art Is Murder Announce 'Human Target' Album, Unveil Video for Title Track. Exclaim! , April 26, 2019, accessed July 26, 2019 .
- ↑ a b Video premiere: THY ART IS MURDER's 'Death Squad Anthem'. Blabbermouth.net , June 7, 2019, accessed July 26, 2019 .
- ^ A b Gary Graff: Thy Art Is Murder's Andy Marsh Explains Thinking Behind 'Inflammatory' Song 'Make America Hate Again'. Billboard , July 24, 2019, accessed July 26, 2019 .
- ^ Thy Art Is Murder Release Video For Make America Hate Again. Kerrang! , July 5, 2019, accessed July 26, 2019 .
- ↑ Alexandra Michels: THY ART IS MURDER - 'New Gods' video released. RockHard.de , July 26, 2019, accessed July 26, 2019 .
- ^ Philip Zimmermann: Reviews . In: Ox-Verlag (Ed.): FUZE Magazine . tape 77 , August 2019, p. 59 .
- ↑ Thomas Strater: Review of Thy Art Is Murder HUMAN TARGET. Metal Hammer , July 26, 2019, accessed July 26, 2019 .
- ^ Jan Wischkowski: Thy Art Is Murder - Human Target. Metal.de , July 22, 2019, accessed July 26, 2019 .
- ↑ Soundcheck July 2019. Metal.de, July 2019, accessed on July 26, 2019 .
- ↑ Simon Krause: THY ART IS MURDER - Human Target: Somehow dull? Kind of good! Powermetal.de , July 24, 2019, accessed on July 26, 2019 .