Martyr A.D. "On Earth as it is in Hell" CD
[Victory]
Damn, the opening instrumental is really slow and bleak, but the shit blows up with the melodic Swedish thrash/death metal stylings of "Bring Out Your Dead": Coming off more like The Haunted than anything, at least musically (granted there are a few rhythmic metalcore breakdowns). But then it's onto some slightly more melodic than average chaotic stuff via "The Serpent and the Flower", with lots of choppy harmonic riffs, raw guitar textures, quick tempo changes, etc. - and I'm not really into that stuff at all. For the most part that's the basis of this record: Some good, some bad, some in between... all with relentless, throaty vocal screams. They've progressed a bit as songwriters, but I don't like the fact that most of the tracks seem somewhat separated. There are certain influences that overflow regardless, but for the most part the more Swedish oriented tracks are on their own and the more chaotic side is on its own - on occasion meeting somewhere in the middle. They're a lot better at the Swedish shit than most bands, but they're really pretty bland when it comes to all the groovy harmonic rhythms and stuff like that, so I really wish they'd toss that shit out the window and just mix up the death metal riffs with melody and tempo changes. For the most part they nail that approach in "Valley of Solitude", one of the most memorable tracks herein, and I'd love to hear that be their chief direction. I guess I'm a little bothered by the fact that they've got two real sides, and both are entirely derivative in today's musical climate, but ignoring the metalcore trappings they can write some great riffs and decent songs, so... they just need to throw out the boring stuff and get down to business. I'm pretty into the recording for the most part. The guitar tone has an overproduced lean, but it's nice and chunky so they pull it off. A bit more high-end definition might be nice, but fuck it. The bass tends to blend in as an afterthought just to thicken things up, while the vocals and drums are fairly well defined. Making sure there are no gaps in the mix would be my only other request if I had my way, but this sounds really strong - better than their last record. The layout is fairly minimal, with some tinted blue withered skeletal images over a black background, gray text, etc. As the excellent album title would suggest, the lyrics are bleaker than ever: "All of your prayers won't be heard anymore, Your blood has been programmed to baptize the floor, And your grave is just a hole, In this hell..." I gave their last record a 7/10 for some odd reason, but even though this one's better, I have to give it a 6, because in retrospect their last record didn't do much for me. There are some excellent moments here, but there are also a few riffs that I cannot tolerate, and the end result is a little bit inconsistent and lacks a certain punch as a result. (6/10)
Running time - 30:25, Tracks: 12
[Notable tracks: Bring Out Your Dead, Valley of Solitude, The Dead Reprise]
Victory Records - http://www.victoryrecords.com

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