Gorerotted "A New Dawn for the Dead" CD
[Metal Blade]
I've never really cared for this UK death/grind act, and this, their latest full-length, doesn't sway me on that. Longtime fans of the band probably won't be disappointed, as they're delivering basically the same thing as always, which is a blasting form of death metal with lots of tremolo picking and a decent balance of hardcore/punk infused grind riffs, while the vocals trade off between low growls and snarling screams. For me, it's pretty boring though, as the band has the potential to do something pretty killer, but they never really take full advantage of it. I definitely think that all of the vocal tradeoffs are pretty energetic, and a scarce few riffs actually follow suit in that department (namely the more hardcore sounding grind influences), but the songwriting itself is too jumbled. I don't care for the blasts or the tremolo picking at all, a lot of the old school death metal runs sound like they were directly lifted from Cannibal Corpse, and when they try to spice things up with little hints of melody or dissonance it seems kind of forced. A bigger problem though is that almost all of the songs sound basically the same. Sure, there are a few quick riffs here and there that change up the character a bit with added dashes of mild technicality or rhythmic nuances, but there are honestly no songs that hit me from start to finish. The recording's fine. The vocals are a little overpowering and the drums definitely lack the warmth that I'd prefer, but the guitar tone's pretty damn good for what they're doing, achieving a good sense of clarity and texture without lacking the heaviness it needs for the chunkier rhythms. There are some gaps in the mix that more prominent basslines could help to fill, but for the most part I think the crispness of the sound would be enjoyable were the songwriting more powerful. Also worth mentioning is that the clarity of the mix brings attention to some minor performance flaws throughout the disc, so it wouldn't hurt to tighten up those aspects either. The layout is of course pretty cheesy, complete with lots of photos of the band posing with some leather clad woman who seems to take turns torturing the band or being tortured by the band, and I'm just not into that crap. Of course, the lyrics do nothing for me either, but I'll give them a little credit for taking a slightly different path to telling their tales of horror as the content is a little longer than average and doesn't dive directly into fierce gore at every turn, so... I don't know, for the most part this is a really bland record that doesn't really grab my attention at all. I think these guys would be better served to slow things down more often and try their hand at more pounding rhythms to counterbalance the finer points of their hints at classic grindcore and overwhelming speed, because right now they're focusing on the aspects of their approach that do nothing to differentiate them from a slew of other second- or third-rate bands of a similar nature. I just can't get into this one... (5/10)
Running time - 33:44, Tracks: 9
[Notable tracks: there aren't really any standouts]
Metal Blade Records - http://www.metalblade.com

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