UMUR
"Collision" is the debut full-length studio album by multi-national groove metal act C-187. The album was released through Mascot Records in August 2007. The band is what I would label a "super" group assembled by guitarist Patrick Mameli (Pestilence). In addition to Patrick Mameli, C-187 consists of Tony Jelencovich on vocals (Angel Blake, B-Thong, Transport League, Iron Shit Snakes, Mnemic, Commander, Icon In Me), Tony Choy on Bass (Pestilence, Atheist, Area 305, Cynic) and Sean Reinert on Drums (Cynic, Death, Gordian Knot, Anomaly, Portal, Aghora, Aeon Spoke, Seaweed, Sean Malone, Levi / Werstler). This is Patrick Mameli´s first attempt at playing metal again after touring in support of "Spheres (1993)" by Pestilence. As far as I remember he went out on a rather bad note with the metal community completely renouncing metal and metal fans in particular. I guess he got wiser with age.
The music on the album is groove oriented metal and personally that came as quite a surprise to me considering the nature of most of the acts the members are/have been involved with. Tony Jelencovich is a rather typical screamo type metalcore singer but he does what he does in a convincing way. The music is groove oriented with heavy chugging riffs and is for the most part vers/chorus based. Don´t expect too many progressive excursions other than some really well played semi-jazzy guitar soloing. The delivery is tight and professional and the sound production is powerful and suits the music well. The songwriting on the other hand is a bit lacking. The tracks don´t really stick and even after several spins I find it hard to point out highlights. The rather awkward choice to use gangsta type lyrics don´t really help on my overall impression either. I guess it´s a pretty original idea, but song titles like "Cruisin’ 4 a Bruisin’" and "P.C.P. (Murda in ma Head)" just look weird on a metal album and quite frankly I initially thought the lyrics were a joke of some sort. I´m probably being a bit too conservative here so I´ll advice making up your own mind if this would be something you would find intriguing.
Judging on the general reception of the album upon release, not many people found it very interesting though. I´ve read enough reviews of this album to know that most reviewers feel just about the same as I do about "Collision". It´s a professional piece of work, but the songwriting and the odd gangsta lyrics make it a rather confusing and fragmented album that probably won´t appeal to many people. If you think the above description is something that might suit your taste, maybe you could prove me wrong. A 2.5 - 3 star (55%) rating is warranted.