Yes, occasionally I still pick up an album by a band because the cover art is really cool. Yes, that's why I picked this up. It was also cheap and I had at least an idea of what to expect from this band. I knew they were a brutal death metal band, bordering on deathcore at some places. I knew that I had read a review which claimed a lot of their riffing style was based on melodic death. Sometimes, blindly purchasing an album based on the cover art works out really well. Unfortunately, this is not one of those blind buy surprise albums that will become a favorite in my collection.The album is certainly brutal, there is no denying that. However, it is relentlessly brutal without any real variation. The riffs and pounding drums never stop or slow down, except for in the chugging breakdowns, which oddly mostly occur towards the end of the songs. The vocals are all deep throated growls, with the occasionally raspier shrieks. The guitar solos are decent, if very short-lived. Some of the riffing is somewhat reminiscent of melodic death, but without any change in tempo, it's often hard to pick up on.
Yes, there are quite a few breakdowns, which will probably cause people to label this a deathcore band. I'm not entirely convinced that's accurate, and if it is, then this is one of the better deathcore bands, with Through the Eyes of the Dead and others. But being a decent deathcore band still makes this a mostly mediocre death metal band.
This is not a terribly good album. It's okay for what it is and I certainly prefer it to groups liek Job for a Cowboy and Suicide Silence and others. However, unless you're a fan of deathcore, don't bother with this.
No comments:
Post a Comment