Killing Theory "Dead, Buried, Forgotten." CD
[Tribunal]
Tolerable but not great technical death metalcore from... Orange County. These guys are tighter than a large segment of their contemporaries (sans a few slight tuning issues on rare occasion during more obvious layered guitar parts), and they also write better riffs, but they still suffer from significant issues as far as composing actual songs. Of course stronger riffs end up equaling stronger songs when the arrangements basically consist of stringing riffs together, but a bit more of a cohesive focus could really help these cats. Why? Because they're already on the right track as far as keeping a varied range of tempos represented herein, and stylistically they shift around enough to keep it interesting as well. It's a little frantic and disjointed by nature, but there's not really any discordant or chaotic mess, the few riffs that hit on the melodic Swedish style are faster and more potent than most, there are some straight up grind and death metal tremolo picking runs underscored by thrashy riffing, and the slower breakdowns are damn good - chugging along without hitting on too many groovy spots or generic mosh parts. The melodic lead break in "Burial of Your Absentee Lord" that leads to a more cohesive set of riffs is far and wide the strongest moment of this EP, and if they could harness that throughout they'd be set. "Downpour of Tears" tends to also stick with more consistent tempos that rest in slightly slower ranges (though there are some blistering speeds as well), so even though it's the longest track at six minutes it's actually the best as a whole. The production is good, too. The drums are a little clicky but held in place by a sweet guitar tone that's heavy but has a shitload of tight control to its borders, the bass thickens up the background, and the vocals sound fine. I think the drums get by as is because they do possess density, and I like the snare sound (plus the drummer is really fucking good, there are some slick fills on this thing), so if I could change anything it'd really be to add more character to the vocals and kick the bass up more so the basslines would actually be evident. They could probably get an extra crunch in the guitars as well, which might clear up some of the faster and more abrasive note-based riffing, but I wouldn't go too far with that since it sounds so good for the moderately paced rhythms right now. Great layout here, with consistent imagery, nice colors, tiny text, etc. Very crisp and pleasing to the eye. Lyrically things are typically bleak and deal with personal issues, though a bit more bluntly than is often common: "I know that you're crying, but I'm having a hard time noticing whether or not you're dying, I'm too busy pounding the end of my gun against your forehead..." Not bad. Not great, but not bad. As with most of these bands it all boils down to songwriting, and they're just not there yet. The ratio of good riffs to sucky riffs is probably 5:2 here in favor of the good, it's just a matter of transitioning them together in a more tangible or memorable way. They're close, so I'd certainly not rule them out. I'm curious to see where they end up. (6/10)
Running time - 20:10, Tracks: 5
[Notable tracks: Burial of Your Absentee Lord, Downpour of Tears]
Tribunal Records - http://www.tribunalrecords.com

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