Fatal & Strangulation: Dual Experience (1999)

Dual Experience is a joint effort from French bands FATAL and STRANGULATION, an EP's worth of material that in this case features three tracks from both bands. As with most such productions I suspect that there are two reasons for such a collaborative effort: To split the costs, and to get the material to be heard by a larger crowd. Both reasons important for many bands.

The opening three cuts are provided by Strangulation in this case, and to my ears they are not that successful. To my ears appearing as a second rate version of early Possessed, with dark growling vocals lurking beneath staccato riff barrages and aggressive drums aplenty. All songs have their fine moments, brief transitions with nifty guitar details made with a great degree of care, but the songs as such and the general level of performance does leave a bit to be desired. There's talent there, but at this stage a rough and raw one that needs a fair amount of polish, at least to my ears.

French band FATAL are slightly more impressive. Their staccato riff barrages and shouted intense vocals are closer to a band like Nuclear Assault in style, albeit without quite as many hardcore references as the rather more well know US act. These French guys do know how to put pace and intensity to good use however, they know how to use impact riffs to good effects and add subtle alterations in pace and tone to the guitar riffs for further variation. The drummer and bassist both appears to handle performance skills outside of the basic ones, without ever really shining, but by and large this adds up to three decent performances, and surprisingly enough the last and longest of these, Les Sept Epees, is the one that impress the most. Perhaps due to the band taking on multiple themes on this piece, and does so with a fair degree of success too.

In sum "Dual Experience" isn't that much of an impressive production, but it does document the early stages of two different bands, and to my ears documents quite nicely why one of them - at least to my knowledge - hasn't released any official albums while the other one does indeed have a few full length productions to their name by now. Borderline thrash/death metal is perhaps the best description to give the the style of music explored, and if you're interest in these styles is in depth you might want to add this disc to your collection. If you can get it at a reasonable cost.

My rating: 50/100


Track list:
1. Strangulation: Mercenary
2. Strangulation: Purge
3. Strangulation: Evicerate
4. Fatal: Conscience
5. Fatal: Exutoir
6. Fatal: Les sept épées