The Black Dahlia Murder "Miasma" CD
[Metal Blade]
Yep, it's official: This record is extremely overrated. Admittedly I wasn't exactly looking forward to this disc because I've never been a terribly large fan of the band, but their last offering was surprisingly good, and what with the current hype surrounding these guys I was at least curious. Well, hype is a dangerous tool. I'm not saying I would've liked this record more sans the hype - I wouldn't have. But all the same, I can't help but listen to this and think to myself, "Okay, so what? What's the big deal? Where's the kicker?" But there isn't one. I actually like "Unhallowed" more than this record. Perhaps that's because in the last two years the melodic Swedish death metalcore sound has somehow become even more disgustingly typical and overpopulated, but regardless, there's nothing about these songs that really catches my ear. For the most part what was true of their last disc remains the case here: The band definitely leans more towards metal than metalcore, they're still cranking out plenty of guitar solos, the vocals jump from low growls to raspy snarls and midrange sneers, and the general riffing style is a brand of chunky contemporary thrash via melodic Swedish death metal reminiscent of Arch Enemy or the like. There you have it, basically. Yeah, the performances are really tight and a lot of the solos are actually impressively well executed, and for the most part they tend to keep things fast and furious with a strong energy level. But, and this is a big one: All things considered, these songs are pretty bland. I've heard all of these riffs and transitions a million times before, I don't really care for the vocals because all of the shifts between lower and higher registers is distracting and comes across as forced, and the bottom line is that - sufficient energy or not - these are not memorable riffs or compositions. Usually a record such as this will have at least one song that breaks the mold and totally crushes. Guess what? That song doesn't exist here. Sure, the barely slower midpaced churn to portions of "Miscarriage" isn't half bad, but I didn't say that any of these songs were bad, I said they were boring and basically sound the same as one another. Too much tremolo picking, too many of the same dual guitar runs, and too many identical song structures. It's a simple fact. The recording's pretty good at least. A touch thin in some respects, but nice and crisp, and I do think the guitar tone is usually on the mark. The higher-pitched vocals don't do much for me and I think they need to crank the bass and give the drums a lot more depth, but... the clicky drum sounds are the biggest setback, and that's a very common problem at this point in time - one that's not such a big deal in the grand scheme of things. It wouldn't hurt to give the rhythm guitars a little more density either, but the lead tone does kick ass, so they're set in that department. Visually? No thanks. I remember when I first started seeing ads for this disc thinking, "Whoa, I hope that's spec art." Nope. It does indeed look that uninteresting. Brightly colored city lights and chaotically arranged plain, bold text. That's all she wrote. And the lyrics? Weak as hell: "I've become another victim of self this serving device my cock does all the talking my mouth now just for lie..." No thanks, kids. No thanks. I'm just not seeing what the hype's all about here at all. 10 tracks, 33 minutes, done. Fair enough. But it's all a blur and every song basically sounds the same as the last, leaving just the guitar solos to pop out and add a little dash of intrigue in quick spurts. The only thing this disc has working in its "favor" (towards moderate "success", that is) over any other generic second-rate metal/metalcore record is the Metal Blade logo on the back cover and a professional sounding recording. I simply don't get it... (6/10)
Running time - 33:26, Tracks: 10
[Notable tracks: Miscarriage, Miasma]
Metal Blade Records - http://www.metalblade.com

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