Glass Casket "We Are Gathered Here Today..." CD
[Abacus]
Technical death metalcore from North Carolina that's definitely more metal than anything else, but the metalcore side of it can't exactly be ignored. There are bits and pieces of this that are reminiscent of early Suffocation meets Cryptopsy or something, but it's more chaotic and jarring in some ways. From churning rhythms to tremolo picking riffs, a little melody, Euro styled dual guitar runs, lots of chaotic pull-off riffs and stuttered time changes, classic death metal chord progressions... there's a lot going on, and it can be hard to follow. The vocals shift from low growls to spoken passages or dashes of screaming, but really nice drumming spices thing up a lot. It's not constantly off the wall, sometimes the fills get overly frantic, but I really like the cymbal work and the more controlled flare that's going on... oftentimes I find myself trying to isolate the drums and just pay attention to the patterns that are swirling around. Like many of these bands, the one thing that bothers me is that even though the songs are of tasteful lengths (three to five minutes), there are so many changes and so many riffs thrown into each composition that there's no sense of unity going on. They have a better knack for it than a good chunk of their contemporaries, but I still feel more like I'm listening to 30+ minutes of riffs and segments than I am nine separate songs. "Fearfully and Wonderfully Made" definitely starts to get more structure, while "Chew Your Fingers" has an amazing clean break partway through the builds back into a massive melodic lead riff with some awesome backing chords - amidst a core of straight up death metal that's far more intense and enjoyable than the mishmash of riffs going on elsewhere. The production is on the right track, but something's missing. I can't put my finger on it. I like that the drums sound really natural, I like that the bass tone is thick without falling back under the guitars, and I don't mind the guitar tone... but something's off. I guess part of it's that the songwriting is so random and spliced together that the slightly dirty bite to the guitars can cause some detail to get lost, but the mix is just about right, so I'm not sure what needs to be done. They just need a little bit more clarity as far as the big picture goes. Visually things are very consistent and minimal, using only a dark red, black, and faint shades of blue. The front cover looks very nice, and certain aspects of the presentation of the lyrics are also cool, but I kind of think certain elements of the layout come off looking more minimal than need be based on the general aesthetic of it. Pretty good, though. As far as content the songs are fairly brief lyrically and deal with abstract personal issues that are on the bitter side: "In me lies no fear. Nothing else can make me still, so I'm calling on you now to lend me the strength. I need to wake up again. Slaughter me and my everything. Make the oncoming traffic be the end of me. Don't let me wake up again." A handful of these songs would make an outstanding EP, but this is still good. The musicianship is great and they can write some intense riffs, so if they can get more focus happening in the general songwriting department they'll be ready to roll. (7/10)
Running time - 37:52, Tracks: 9
[Notable tracks: Fearfully and Wonderfully Made, Chew Your Fingers, A Gray A.M. You Will Never Get to See]
Abacus Recordings - http://www.abacusrecordings.com

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