(Industrial Groove Metal) Dagoba - Poseidon - 2010, APE (image+.cue+scans) lossless

DAGOBA is back with the fury of the Greek god Poseidon, through this album which is a journey aboard a pirate ship, each song is a devastating one-stop spot on the globe. This attack is a real coming back to their roots and main influences with a more primitive and more percussive music, but also in the sound approach.
Back in the studio with Dave Chang, who had attended the first eponymous album. DAGOBA is going to conquer new horizons, new warfields with its evil trident.
"Face the Colossus"! Behold this giant fighting machine. Hear the mighty humming of its powerful engines. Feel the ground shake which each new step this monster takes. Fear its massive armament. Delight in the glorious beauty of this marvellous titan.
DAGOBA have excelled themselves with "Face the Colossus"! On their third album, the French come crushing down like a ten-ton hammer. DAGOBA unleash the full fury of their fast and furious riffing crossbred with a pounding groove and surprisingly emotional passages. Their new songs are full of feelings, but never fall down into the whiny attitude of fashionable Emocore. DAGOBA chose to combine the revolutionary spirit of their hometown Marseilles with the attitude of Modern Metal. They expand on the theme of sheer force, which DAGOBA had already adopted in their early songs that still revealed influences like Pantera, Machine Head and Fear Factory as well as Death and Black Metal.
It took DAGOBA only six years to rise into the leading ranks of New French Metal. Their claim for the throne is now only contested in friendly competition by Gojira. When vocalist Shawter decided in September 2000 to revamp the line-up of his old band due to a lack of motivation from the others despite having gained an opening slot for Rammstein, he was looking for musicians with ambition, talent and dedication. Luckily it did not take him long to find hard-hitting drummer Franky, a miracle in precision. Pounding bass-man Werther joined as well as riff-machine Izakar on guitars. Bursting of creativity, the newly born DAGOBA released their first 6-track EP in November 2001 and quickly gained recognition by the media all over Europe.
With the aim of "turning violence into energy and emotion", the French recorded their self-titled debut early in 2003. With the mixing done by Dave Chang (Stampin' Ground, Linea 77, Orange Goblin) at Philia Studios in Oxford "Dagoba" took the metal-world by storm. The fierce dynamics and stainless riffing of the quartet surprised fans and press alike with Rock Sound summing up the consensus in one phrase: "DAGOBA crushes everything and leaves no one alive!"
Following up on their instant success, DAGOBA embarked on an extended tour that took them out on the road nonstop from August 2003 until December 2004. Of the many highlights on this journey, the opening slots for Machine Head in Brussels and Fear Factory in Amsterdam are standing out. Thousands of people gathered at the Dour Festival in Belgium (2004) to see DAGOBA perform with only one album released.
Having met with fast success, the French were ready for the next big steps in their career. In 2005, DAGOBA signed a deal with Season of Mist just before opening for Korn in Southern France. With the intention to intensify and enlarge their sound, the band chose famed producer Tue Madsen (Mnemic, Hatesphere, The Haunted) for their next recording. The Dane immediately sensed DAGOBA's originality and regarded them as "special" and able to catch his "attention from the first moment with their very well played and very dramatic material".
When "What Hell Is About" hit the shops early 2006, the album turned quickly into a bestseller. Press results were even more raving than for their previous release. Backed by fans and praise alike, DAGOBA were invited to perform at many major European festivals and to play before the legendary Metallica of whom the French are big fans themselves. "What Hell Is About" set the course for the band's future. They had honed their skills as musicians to perfection, developed a heavily organic sound of their own and proved to be brilliant songwriters.
Not content with their enviable position in the fast growing new wave of French Metal the band decided to collaborate once again with renowned producer Tue Madsen for “Face the Colossus”. As a close-knit team, DAGOBA and Tue created an even more monstrously massive, but still clear and crisp sound that was adapted for each song individually

The French mechanical groovy bestiary Dagoba hail once again with a new album two years after its predecessor. Poseidon arises from the depths of the ocean with a like-driven expressive cover artwork blending well with the God of the sea that breathes through the menace and devoutness of the vast blue that is vivid through the whole duration of this new effort.
So, what to expect from the band during 2010, imagine them grabbing from the Face The Colossus and striking it down in the mud, the introvert atmosphere of the previous effort becomes powerful and more aggressive with some tranquil moments. Of course they didn't leave behind the keyboards, the heavy usage of FX, the slight electronics and the mechanical drumming in any tempo, it's just that this time everything is more fierce. You will find more aggressive riffs parading one after the other and throbbing bass lines as the vocals core the place down with their sharp edge that is being usually overrun by an electrifying FX. This recipe mainly works on the first third of the album. On the second the band seems to ease the burden and the melodic vocals play a more important role among more powerful ones, the keyboards that were more menacing and were playing a tremendous role through their simplicity in the ambiance now become more mellow, but still obscure, so as to pace with the overall melodic feeling. The change begins with the dual nature of "Black Smokers (752 Farenheit)" and "Degree Zero" and continues with the instru-mental "The Horn Cape" and the mellow "Shen Lung", but don't misinterpret their will, the album from "I Sea Red" gets back on track rising the "Waves Of Doom" once again.
The production is very good, ideal I'd say, it helps every aspect of the album sound just like it should and you gotta love the bombastic drumming that blooms like a bomb exploding at the bottom of the sea in a single shot in tactical moments inbetween the breaking periods. One could say Poseidon holds a biomechanical air, it owns a vivid sea-oriented feeling, but it presents amounts of industrial sharpness that distort the place as well.
The album is good and I like its aggressive air, but the more melodic vibes in the middle, this mellow feeling, just soothes the beast inside. Had some songs been more aggressive/a bit different or the clearly melodic aura was not apparent I'd refer to Poseidon as a nearly masterpiece or something, as for now, it's a good release with enough songs that will blow your mind, whereas some others will kind of bore you or won't appeal as much as they should.
Highlights: "Dead Lion Reef", "Columnae", "I Sea Red", "The Horn Cape", "Theres Blood Offshore", "Waves Of Doom".
7/10
http://www.metalstorm.net/pub/review.php?review_id=8492
http://www.roadrunnerrecords.com/blabbermouth.net/news.aspx?mode=Article&newsitemID=143216

Shawter - Vocals, machines
Franky COSTANZA - Drums
Izakar - Guitar
Werther Ytier - Bass