One of the best and most under-rated technical metalcore albums ever, incorporating much more than the genre description allows and at least as clever as contemporaries such as Botch. Largely forgotten about, this is one of the harshest yet varied albums of the genre. Not rooted in the punk/hardcore sound like Converge or Coalesce and brutally heavy without any metal cliches. The title for this blog is taken from the track 'Neon Guide' (obviously), as Challenger is an album I would always consider one of my all time favourites, i can only hope my overview can do this album justice.
The album strides into life with the powerful 'Whacked out'. Typically for Knut, slow but forceful chords give way to a pounding technical assault, choatic guitar lines cover a relentless and clever rhythm section easily. Most important here are Didier Severin's brutal yet emotional vocals, which work perfectly with the cold and metallic production, both contributing massively to the mood of the album. The first four tracks follow a similar formula, all with aggressive technicality, unorthodox breakdowns and just enough respite for it to hold together. No other metalcore bands have been able to mix mid-tempo groove with technical intensity quite so effectively. Some amazing riffs and incredibly tight writing are completely unforgettable.
From 'Neon Guide' to '58.788' the pace of the album changes considerably. Neon Guide is one enormous riff, pretty much without any metalcore influences and almost doom-like. The following track, 'H/Armless' is undoubtedly the high point of the album however. An unrelenting dirge of one note pounding, building up and falling away, constantly tense due to the desperate and vicious vocals. By all means it should be tiring, but even without the threat of something changing, 'H/Armless' is weirdly compelling.
The rest of the album is paced perfectly, after 'H/Armless' it relents and returns to earlier technicality, via the acoustic, sampled laden '58.788'. Album closer 'March' is another 20 minutes of pounding and controlled aggression and pretty much unbeatable as a way of ending. Admitedly, the second half is not as compelling as the first six tracks, yet the change in pace is very welcome and finishing on a slow burn fits Knut much more than a futher burst of energy.
I think the reason why i hold Challenger up so highly is that it is still a unique sounding metalcore/mathcore record. Released when their only real contemporary, Botch, were fumbling and about to release their most straightforward record (An Anthology of Dead Ends) and probably at the end of Hydrahead's mathcore days, 'Challenger' stands out as the best album of that period. After a 3 year absence, the follow up to Challenger, 'Terraformer' finally arrived. Definitely a very good album, but it lacked the tension of Challenger, much less vocals, more samples and a preference for slower riffing. A notoriously slow band with a reluctance to tour, i don't see Knut splitting up soon, and i can only hope that they release another album as good as Challenger. It will almost certainly not be a mathcore album, and that is even more exciting.
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Notes
- Knut and Hydrahead released their long awaited remix album in 2006, featuring a number of extremely odd remixes, but also an excellent remix of H/Armless by J.K. Broderick (Jesu, Godflesh, im sure everyone knows, etc.)
- Knut seem to playing most of their shows in Geneva at the moment, though a European tour is due in September/October of this year
- Mp3s (Knut official site)
- H/Armless live w/Isis (Youtube link)
- Video for H/Armless J.K. Broderick remix (Youtube link)
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