''Closing In'' is the debut studio album by American heavy metal band Early Man, released on October 11, 2005. There are clear influences from heavy metal bands like

Black Sabbath Black Sabbath are an English rock band formed in Birmingham in 1968 by guitarist Tony Iommi, drummer Bill Ward (musician), Bill Ward, bassist Geezer Butler, and vocalist Ozzy Osbourne. After adopting the Black Sabbath name in 1969 (the band ...

and

thrash metal Thrash metal (or simply thrash) is an Extreme metal, extreme subgenre of heavy metal music characterized by its overall aggression and fast tempo.Kahn-Harris, Keith, ''Extreme Metal: Music and Culture on the Edge'', pp. 2–3, 9. Oxford: Berg, ...

bands like

Metallica Metallica is an American heavy metal band. It was formed in Los Angeles in 1981 by vocalist and guitarist James Hetfield and drummer Lars Ulrich, and has been based in San Francisco for most of its career. The band's fast tempos, instrume ...

. Mike Conte's vocal style is very similar to

Ozzy Osbourne John Michael "Ozzy" Osbourne (born 3 December 1948) is an English singer, songwriter, and media personality. He rose to prominence during the 1970s as the lead singer of the heavy metal music, heavy metal band Black Sabbath, during which per ...

and

Rob Halford Robert John Arthur Halford (born 25 August 1951) is an English heavy metal singer. He is best known as the lead vocalist of Judas Priest, which was formed in 1969 and has received accolades such as the 2010 Grammy Award for Best Metal Perform ...

, while not exactly imitating them. The album also features another heavy/

speed metal Speed metal is a subgenre of heavy metal music that originated in the late 1970s from new wave of British heavy metal (NWOBHM) roots.K. Kahn-Harris, ''Extreme Metal: Music and Culture on the Edge'' (Berg Publishers, 2007), , p. 31. It is desc ...

attribute: aggressive, "don't fuck with me" lyrics, as heard on "War Eagle", "Thrill of the Kill", and "Evil Is".

Track listing

#Four Walls – 2:42 #War Eagle – 3:14 #Death Is the Answer – 5:35 #Feeding Frenzy – 3:23 #Thrill of the Kill – 4:35 #Like a Goddamn Rat – 3:10 #Fist Shaker – 3:43 #Evil Is – 4:27 #Brain Sick – 3:32 #Contra – 3:53 #Raped and Pillaged – 3:51

Critical reception

''Closing In'' received mixed to mostly positive reception.

Pitchfork A pitchfork or hay fork is an agricultural tool used to pitch loose material, such as hay, straw, manure, or leaves. It has a long handle and usually two to five thin tines designed to efficiently move such materials. The term is also applie ...

appreciated the old-school

style, and the "galloping

riff A riff is a short, repeated motif or figure in the melody or accompaniment of a musical composition. Riffs are most often found in rock music, punk, heavy metal music, Latin, funk, and jazz, although classical music is also sometimes based ...

s and booming

power chord A power chord , also called a fifth chord, is a colloquial name for a chord on guitar, especially on electric guitar, that consists of the root note and the fifth, as well as possibly octaves of those notes. Power chords are commonly pla ...

s". The only negative stated was a significant degree of uniformity throughout the album, with only one or two songs varying in style.

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...

also appreciated the ferocity of the older style, but heavily criticised both the uniformity but also stated "''Closing In'' is numbingly derivative" with no pieces showing significantly originality.

Personnel

Mike Conte Early Man is an American heavy metal duo from Brooklyn, New York, now based in Los Angeles. History Guitarist and vocalist Mike Conte began performing under the name "Early Man" in the early 2000s, and when drummer Adam Bennati moved to New ...

– guitar, bass, vocals * Adam Bennati – drums *

Matt Sweeney Matt Sweeney (born July 2, 1969) is an American musician and record producer best known as a guitarist of Skunk, Chavez, and supergroup Zwan. Early life and education Sweeney was born in New Jersey. His father was John D. Sweeney, a profess ...

– producer, additional guitars

References

2005 debut albums Early Man (band) albums Matador Records albums {{2000s-metal-album-stub