Well. Welcome to my first
Review the World article. I hope you enjoy it. I will be doing
a lot of reviews of metal, hardcore, death metal, anything pretty much
that makes your ears bleed and or horror movies. And if I decide
to I will throw in rants or poems or whatever I feel like. So its all good.
So it will be interesting I hope and maybe it will reach out to the closet
extreme music people out there. I will be reviewing anything.
Old, new, essential, non-essential. Whatever. Anything I find in
my room. So now that that is out of the way on to the review.
So I felt it was right to start
off with the album I currently have in frequent rotation. Bloodlust.
The first full length from Through the Eyes of the Dead. Now this
band plays a brand of metalcore/deathcore mixture that all the kids are
going crazy about these days. But we aren't talking that Atreyu and
Avenged Sevenfold light stuff here. No no no. We're talking
“death metal with a side of hardcore breakdowns that make you want to take
a crowbar upside your annoying neighbors head” type music here. Not
for the faint of ear. So what's so good about this album that I like
it so much? Well first of all its HEAAAAVVVVYYYYY. I mean really.
The production is pretty damned crushing on this one. Could use a
little more clarity but it seems they were going for more of a mid-90's
Suffocation type of production. The type with lots of muddy bass.
Which I really have no major complaints about but just needs a little more
cleaning and streamlining. The guitars are pretty well thick.
I hear no bass guitar which is surprising for such a bass-heavy record.
The drums are pretty sick. The double bass sounds a bit triggered
but its fast as hell. Almost inhuman. Which brings me to my
other complaint about this album. The vocals. The vocals are
good. Nice high raspy black metalish sneers mixed with lows that
sound more like a roar than a gurgle. But......They sound so damn
processed. What the hell? Are they going for a robot voice
or something. Sounds a bit like they recorded them through a playschool
tape recorder with the phase effect on. Come on, couldn't we go for
something a little more organic and human sounding. But maybe that
sort of cold, mechanical sound is what they were aiming for. But
it just doesn't set right or hit as hard as they should. Oh well
maybe on the next record.
Musically they have a great
mixture of dark melo-death melody with bits of good ole death metal and
the only hardcore in it is the breakdowns. Which brings me to my
fave part of this album. These things rattle teeth and break jaws.
Literally. They are earth shaking. When this band slows it
down with a thick groove they mean business. Its scary and disturbing
to think what the pit would be like in the midst of one of these bowel
-loosening moments during the album. If you are not compelled to
beat things to a bloody pulp or bang your head then you have no feelings.
This band intends to do nothing but hurt you. As the singer proclaims
on one of the songs: “I don't hate you I just want to hurt you.”
Wow. These guys mean serious business. I really wouldn't want
to piss them off. They already seem pissed enough. Despite
my few minor complaints on production and vocals this album gets two major
thumbs up from me. Good stuff guys and keep it brutal.
- Darrel