Well, this is a surprise. Admittedly something about the packaging for this 3" disc from this UK act rubbed me the wrong way and sort of had me anticipating a lackluster effort, but that's not the case. What you'll find here are three tracks of vicious metal fusing a good dose of tactful melodic Swedish death metal, thrash, black metal, and a few more obscure/creative influences into an uncommonly nice set of songs that flow well throughout lots and lots of changes. From moderate tempos to excessive speeds, from memorable dual guitar harmonies to thrashy picking patterns or thick, dissonant rhythms... it's really quite good. There are a lot of amazing guitar riffs, the drumming is strong (a good mix of tastefully basic beats and flashy fills), the vocals are a unique scream that doesn't have that generic sneer happening, etc. Make no mistake, there is a hefty Swedish influence here, but I honesty can't parallel most of these riffs to any notable Swedish act, because despite that influence playing an obvious role, they really do make a solid attempt at creating their own direction out of it. The final track, "Frightening & Obscene", even has a strange Carcass ring to its slower tempos and thick melodic chords. Very cool. Another plus is the recording, which is very good for a demo. The drums sound natural, the bass peeks through just enough to thicken things up, the guitars have a tight, defined tone, and the vocals are mixed in with the instruments so as to just barely step out front. I might prefer to hear less layering/panning on some of the vocals (no need to overdo it), but they've got a good idea of where to take things, that's for sure. The disc comes in a small sleeve that's printed in full color, probably from a laser printer or something. It looks okay, but it's not that interesting and I'm not very fond of the imagery, per se. The lyrics are somewhat cryptic in a sense, which is a change of pace at least: "I cannot yield to the unquestionable physicality of such a warming and alarming desire - unexplainable sickness, starving me of my hunger..." By demo standards this is definitely a cut above. I'd hope these guys get signed at some point, or at least have the opportunity to explore this further.
[self-released]
Running time - 14:51, Tracks: 3
[Notable tracks: City of Envy, Frightening & Obscene]
Dam - http://www.dam.cjb.net
