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    7ball #10
    7ball #10/Klank
    Klank — Still Suffering cover

    Klank

    Still Suffering

    Reviewed by Bruce A. Brown

    Listen on Apple Music
    Label Tooth & Nail Records7ball #10January/February 1997
    industrial metalindustrial rock

    It seems like, with the album title being what it is, with song titles like "Downside," "Burning," "Deceived," and "Disease" and with an album cover that looks like a promo poster for a very intense science fiction film, Klank wants to scare the pants off of you. Klank, which is in essence Darin Diolosa, is no stranger to this gothic/industrial/techno/metallic approach. Diolosa's long association with premiere Christian industrial band Circle of Dust has no doubt prepared him to take a legitimate and well-qualified swing at this extremely personal and often frightening music. On a strictly sensory level, Klank pretty much succeeds in his task. Although not as aggressive as Circle of Dust, Klank instantly grabs the listener with insistent beats, grinding guitars and engaging vocals. However, Diolosa eschews the typical industrial approach to delivering his provocative lyrics. Rather than bury the words under layers of distortion--a fairly standard practice for industrial music--Diolosa actually sings, in a very intelligible growl which splits the difference between industrial and metal. Consequently, you can understand the harrowing lyrics, actually magnifying the impact of the music. In "Deceived," Diolosa's gruff voice carries a great deal of empathy when he sings a line as simple as "You don't know what it is to be me/I was lied to and flat out deceived;" Diolosa doesn't disguise his disgust for the world in "Animosity," as he shouts "I hate this world and all it has to offer/If I had a choice, I'd rather be dead," while the closing "Woodensoul" sees the singer begging God for release in his spirit ("My Savior bleeds/Calloused hands, with fury's need to break my wooden soul"). Although often not as scary as you'd wish, Still Suffering is still a most impressive disc.

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    Whitecross — FlytrapMorella's Forest — Ultraphonic HissThe Kry — What About NowChaos Is the Poetry — Chaos Is the PoetryUndercover — Anthology Volume 1Dryve — Thrifty Mr. KickstarSkillet — SkilletDr. Onionskin — Split Pea SoupLuxury — the latest & the greatestMxPx — Life In General