Forward-thinkers Daniel Cardoso (ex-SIRIUS/RE:AKTOR) and Kristoffer Garm Rygg (ULVER/ex-ARCTURUS/ex-BORKNAGAR) have united to bring forth the radically un-radical Murder Nature. In lieu of their typically abstract visions, Cardoso and Rygg pony up a metal album for the masses in Murder Nature. Cardoso’s simple yet effective riffing and drumming thunder with groove and heaviness that mirrors the metallurgy of TOOL, MNEMIC, and perhaps a little DREAM THEATER ("Watergate"). Meanwhile, the exceptionally eccentric vocalist and visionary Rygg finds himself in a unfamiliar position of having to balance a fifty-fifty creative relationship with Cardoso. The result is remarkably hit-and-miss. Although refreshing to hear Rygg sing for a straight-up metal project, his vocal range is mostly stuck in the same register. Rygg’s usually diverse sing-song vocal parts often lack a bond with the music, as if composed independently from the music-writing process. While Murder Nature captures the dynamic valor of Cardoso and Rygg, it unfortunately lacks a necessary variety from passage-to-passage, song-to-song. (The End Records)