I've been in a slam death mood for a little while again. These phases come and go I guess. I have been trying to avoid placing too many online orders for albums so finding this CD at Hastings was a pleasant surprise. As far as slam death goes, this group is surprisingly accessible and definitely not as gore-obsessed or misogynistic as other bands. Which means they are probably not well-received by some of the more hardcore fans of the genre.One other strange note before launching into the music. This band is now on Victory Records, a label heretofore known as more of a hardcore label with groups like Hawthorne Heights, Atreyu, Taking Back Sunday, and lots of other terrible bands. So seeing a slam death band on the label is pretty shocking. This kind of thing usually gets released on Sevared, Comatose, Amputated Vein or occasionally Relapse.
Anyway, things start off melodically and eerie with a string intro and then it launches directly into the first slam early in the second track. The production is extremely beefy with lots of bass. It's otherwise clear and you could almost make out the lyrics if not for the incredibly deep guttural vocals at work. Fairly typical for slam so no complaints here. This album sounds great, it is not nearly as raw as many other slam albums.
As I mentioned before, this is a bit more of an accessible slam album. The slams are all still there, but they are complemented by slightly technical riffing and leads. The musicians are all talented and play well. The songwriting is impressive and these songs are surprisingly memorable and don't blend in with each other, which has sometimes been the downfall of many slam bands.
Lyrically, the band deals with horror themes, as evidenced by the zombie cover art. They do not have the same gore obsession or irritating misogyny as other bands, which is a big plus. Sometimes that makes it extremely difficult to listen to this style.
If I had to point to a new album to look into to get into this genre, this album by Pathology would be the one. It does not possess many of the elements that make slam an intense genre and it sounds close enough to technical brutal death to be interesting. This is a good gateway album into the world of slam.
I'm not even really sure what slam death is. I've seen it referred to in several different places, so maybe that's something I need to figure out.
ReplyDeleteSlam is a narrow subgenre of brutal death that takes the early Suffocation sound and simplifies it a little more, focusing on beefing up the breakdown parts, which are the slams. The most well-known slam bands are Internal Bleeding, Devourment, and Dying Fetus.
ReplyDeleteThen I think Dying Fetus is the only one I've heard, and that was only one song. May have to look into it a bit more. Thanks!
ReplyDeleteBy the way, I'm working on a metal dictionary for my site (it's several months away from being ready for publication, as I only work on it sporadically). I've been writing all the definitions myself, but you stated that so succinctly I would like to quote you (with attribution), as long as that's OK.
I don't have a problem with that at all. I'll be interested in reading that post.
ReplyDelete