Sons of AzraelI'm surprised I've never heard of these Buffalo, NY natives, they have been around since 2004 but I think this is their first proper release? Obviously they have released demos and what have you but not too sure about any previous EP's.
These guys play something that could easily be labeled melodic-deathcore. The press sheet says these guys are for fans of Job For A Cowboy, The Black Dahlia Murder, Morbid Angel, Death, and Slayer. I wouldn't say they sound TOO much like any of the aforementioned bands so I'll stick to my melodic-deathcore tag.
There are 10 tracks that equal around 35 minutes of chest crushing metal goodness. The album opens up with one of the stand out tracks, "Trail of Flesh", which starts with a blazing blast beat as the guitarist tremolo picks his ass off, the band then proceeds into an almost Black Dahlia Murder riff, they then drop into a brief little chug part while the guitar plays a hammer on run. The brief little breakdown that leads perfectly into the blast beat that opens the next song, "Scent of A Dead Whore", which is another stellar track. This song really highlights the vocalist ability to go from high to low effortlessly. This song centers around a nice little melodic riff while the lead guitarist plays another slick lead until they break into a death metal break. The third song, "The Wrath" has some good use of melody in the chorus, it isn't cheesy it's a straight up picking pattern that is outlined by the double bass. Since I described the best tracks on the first half, I'll go into a brief description of perhaps the best song on the album, "Turn That Crown Upside Down". The song opens up with the guitar playing a slow, eerie riff until the double bass comes in and lowers the hammer. The band than jumps into a straight up deathmetal blast beat, this is until they change gears into another well done picking pattern until they go back into the previous riff, except during the second half the drummer goes from playing a blast beat to a thrash drum line. The song ends on a crushing breakdown where all the instruments are in unison until about the last 10 seconds where the drummer starts to hit you with constant double bass.
I really don't have too many complaints about this album musically but the only thing this album could've done without was the instrumental "The Conjuration of Destruction". It features a piano and some singing, it really isn't all that bad it just fucks with the flow of the album. Another slight complaint would be that the album seems to be loaded up front with the back half lagging just slightly behind, although "Turn That Crown Upside Down" helps out.
The lyrics which were mostly derived from the writings of Anton Lavey are obviously anti-religion, just check out the lyrics to "Turn That Crown Upside Down":
"There was a time when I was blind. Yet now I see, and I am alive. You're raised to believe that he died for you. Open your mind and seek out the truth. You never saved anyone from anything. You created hatred the day this began. I was raised to think for myself. I'm happy to say, I'll see you in hell. I set fire to the book of your law. A work of fiction, a contradiction. Devil may care, you never saved anyone from anything. You've created war the day this began. Behold the false prophet, he has failed you again. Cast out the word of God, the cancer of man. I spit in your face and laugh about it. Your religion is dying, your God is dead."
There are songs about other fine topics such as the song, "Scent of A Dead Whore" which is pretty self explanatory. It's pretty much about the rape and killing of a whore and adding her carved up carcass to the collection. A song that almost seems to be out of place is the track, "5 5 97" which is about the suicide of a lover. But it is written in described in a brutal fashion, so I guess it does kind of fit.
Holy shit does this recording rip. This thing will beat the shit out of your speakers if you'll allow it to. The guitar tone is thick and massive, it's like the levels were cranked up to the max. The bass tone doesn't have a pronounced tone but it has enough presence, it does however provide massive low end to fill out the mix nicely. The vocals are harsh and natural, no effects what so ever but ever so brutal. The drums have a punishing sound, the double bass has good tone, not too clicky but not too round sounding either. Good shit.
The layout that is printed on gloss probably could've benefitted from a unfinished matte with all of the earth tones used, still pretty good though. On the front cover is some weird skull that is contrasted into the background. The booklet is four pages and has some trippy imagery that accompanies the lyrics, all kinds of weird eye balls floating around in a weird contrasted space.
Rating: 3.8/5
Songs Worthy of Replay: Scent of A Dead Whore, Turn That Crown Upside Down and Trail of Flesh
Synopsis: If these guys could manage to finish the album off the way they started it, this thing would be killer. Still not bad though, see for yourself and check out some jammy jams at the band's MySpace