So yeah, Borrower from Italy tried to do this whole eight demons concept thing, one demon per song or whatever. Sounds cool on paper, right? Full concept album with heavy thrash and prog mixed in. But man... when you actually play it, it just kinda lays there. It doesn't really grab you or anything.
Production is super clean and dry. Guitars are sharp and right in front, drums are hard and flat sounding, bass is there but doesn't do much. You can hear everything clearly, which is good, but it feels cold. Like they wanted it modern and tight, but forgot to add any warmth or punch. Ends up sterile, not powerful.
Songs are ok structured. Hooks show up when they're supposed to, changes happen, nothing wanders off. But nothing really surprises you either. Killerdemons starts heavy with some thrash bite but stays safe. El Degollador is prob the best one - focused catchy song that could maybe get played somewhere if pushed. Dream on Fire balances the heavy thrash prog stuff the nicest without going overboard. A Chaos Vortex tries to end dark and atmospheric, but it never really builds to anything big or memorable.
The rest of the tracks are the same deal. Solid riffs, decent change,s some technical moments, but nothing that makes you think "damn gotta hear that again". The demon idea is cool, but doesn't really come thru strong in the music or lyrics. Feels like they had a big plan and then played it safe when recording.
If you're deep into Italian heavy/thrash with prog its listenable and has a couple of ok moments. For a regular fan (like me), it's just another album that plays once, and then you forget it. Not bad, not broken, just average. Just to clarify, this is only my personal view and not meant to speak for everyone.
https://www.facebook.com/Borrower.Metal
Thanks to Grand Sounds PR.
