The French metalband K.A has been around since 1995. At the time, their discography consists out of three demo � cds and three self � produced cd�s of which �Close-Up� is the latest one. Their style varies from punk to thrash to grind and can be called anything but regular. The band named the style on this album �Brutal Metal�. That got me curious, for that could be anything. I have to admit that I�m not really a death / grindcore fan, but I must say I was surprised to receive an album from a band which, after three demo�s and three albums, still produces it�s own cd�s and still got this well � known. Let�s see what we�ve got here. The first song, �Our Life�, starts out with a nice bass � intro, but as soon as the vocalist jumps in, I�m a little disappointed. You have to know that I value lyrics a lot and the first word in every sentence of the first verse is �fuck�. I don�t like it when bands use words like �fuck� excessively in their lyrics. The music is brutal indeed. After the first song, which starts out a little slow and gets faster as the track progresses, the music changes more into a �couple of chords per song� � show. I know it�s frequent with deathmetal related music, but it didn�t really appeal to me. Especially when the songs get slow it�s a nuisance. While listening to �Fragment Of Mind� I nearly fell asleep, only to be promptly brought back to reality when recognising the annoying and wrongly placed guitar leads soaring through my hearing channel. A nice remark has to be made as well, because the thrashy fast � paced drums and guitars at some points on the album sound really well. It�s just a pity that there are these nasty guitar leads to surpress the need to bang my head... A compliment has to be made on the vocal capabilities of the bassist / vocalist. As stated in the booklet of the cd, �there�s no fucking auto-tune, tune-up or tune-down effect on Ashram�s voices.� I can�t name too many bands which use those kind of effects, but it�s nice to know he�s �genuine� anyway. As for drums and guitars: the drums are one of the things on this album I really enjoyed. With loads of diversity, they make you sit this cd through. The guitars are tuned way down, which makes the music sound heavy and brutal. As for the overall � rating, I would say this is a decent record with its ups and downs like almost every cd. Although it�s not my thing, I think this album would make a nice addition to the collection of a deathmetalfan who is open to change within the genre. Tracklisting: 1/ Our Life 2/ What's Your Excuse Download 3/ Illusion Of Life 4/ Fragment Of Mind 5/ F.J.F.S. (demo) 6/ Brutal Against Masses (demo) 7/ Rage (demo) 8/ What's Your Excuse (demo) Line-up: Ashram: vocals LeBud: drums Mr. Deam: guitar Review by BlackRain