When first approached to review this album, I did not quite know what to think of it. As most music listeners know, the cover cannot tell the listener what to expect unless it is some manufactured pop album with some teen princess on the cover. With nothing to lose, I grabbed the album and tossed it in the ol' stereo system to find out for myself what adHominem sounds like.

     To be quite honest, the album needs more than one listen to fully appreciate the material performed. Upon my first listen, I thought that the album was your typical straightforward metal album. However, this is not the case. There are many different levels to Time Kinetics and one listen does not do the album any justice. Not to mislead anyone, this album is definitely heavy but there are times on this album that you almost stop yourself to see if you are listening to the same band. For some bands, this does not work. However, for adHominem, it does work. The moments where the pace changes acts almost as an intermission to what lies ahead. "The Template That Forms Life" is just one of these intermissions on the album. Also, including a song ("XÉlite") with the lyrics in French works for this album. It does not seem out of place and this is not an easy task to perform. Finally, the album concludes with a very progressive and must listen to track called "Accurate Assumption".

     So if you are looking for something with that aggressive metal attack that most new "metal" bands fail to achieve, adHominem's Time Kinetics is well worth the listen. It may not grab you on the first listen but it will after a couple of times through. Usually, albums that do grow on you become your favourites and are less likely to be in the pile that you use as coasters or attempt to pawn on friends or at a hock shop.