Thursday, September 29, 2011

Reader Submissions: Refusal: Short on Ammo

I was recently contacted by Tero Pirhonen, guitarist of the Finnish death metal band Refusal, to review their latest demo. So here we are.

Refusal has apparently gone through some changes over the course of the few years they have been active. They began life as a thrash metal band and then slowly began moving into their current direction. Refusal has been surprisingly prolific for such a young band, releasing four demos and a single since 2008. Here's hoping that a full-length is coming soon.

This is heavy and crushing, groove-laden death metal performed with a lot of speed and intensity. There is a lot of energy here, which is good, because the music, while competently played does not really offer anything new. This is not really a problem. This is tried and true death metal, which when played this skillfully always sounds good. Refusal does have something of a punk flair, which probably came about when they started out as a thrash metal band.

The vocals are delivered in a variety of ways, including a death growl and a harsh scream. This is one way to keep the listener interested. It also helps that the demo is a fairly short nine minutes long. They play fast and avoid falling into the trap of playing long and pointless songs.

The sound quality is impressive for a demo. It sounds full and thick and each instrument can be heard clearly.

This is an impressive sounding demo from a young band. With any luck, they will continue to find their own voice and put out a full-length soon.

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