Füneral Rain Press Cörps

Genre: Metalcore, Rock
Label: The End Records

This album came out of nowhere, almost literally. I got it from the post office after it was sent to the old E-MetalSpace address. My guess is they (or the PR person from The End Records) saw my old blog on MySpace and thought that the attached address was still good. But whatever, right? It worked out for everyone.

Anyhow, Amoral is a five piece band from Helsinki, Finland that has put out four full-length albums that have been met with moderate success. Well, their earlier stuff anyway. According to Metal-Archives.com, Amoral’s earlier work was technical death metal… shit. I wish I received one of those album instead of this thirteen track hiccup in common sense. How can a band go from technical death metal to watered down metalcore-ish-ness? Mind you, this is all assuming that the information I received is accurate since M-A.com refers to these guys currently as power metal. Waaaay off whoever slapped that label on.

Amoral’s style is definitely more in the realm of rock than that of metalcore though. Think of a far less progy Psyke Project with a weaker vocalist. It’s a bit difficult to critique this album any further since Beneath is just so mediocre or just plain simple. However, the one thing that really stands out do to it’s lack of mediocrity and simplicity: about twenty percent of the guitar structure. Occasionally you’ll hear a masterfully placed and as nifty as you can get flourish. No good solos. No memorable riffs. Just an occasional guitar squeal that can make you smile.

And no, this album isn’t terrible. I’ve heard FAR worse than this by bands once thought to be infallible. But I can’t help but feel that I missed out on something awesome if I would of discovered these guys a few years earlier in their TDM days.

Overall: I’d advise anyone who likes their metalcore more laid back and ethereal to pick up this album. If that doesn’t sound even remotely appealing, then you’ll do well pretending that his album doesn’t exist.

5/10

Amoral Official 

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Genre: Thrash, Metalcore
Label: Elephantine Records 

I’ve been waiting four years for this album to come my way! I reviewed 18 Wheels Of Justice’s Deceive Them All back in 2007 and have been drooling for their next album ever since (I think their superb cover of The Trooper helped grease those wheels). After several failed attempts to receive one through the mail, I opted for the MP3 format. And now, my four year wait is over! Here we go…

Immediately, Execution eclipses Deceive Them All in all conceivable arenas. The songwriting is sturdier. The fast riffing is even faster. The thrash is fucking thrashier! I can’t really add much to this review on a musical analysis level. If you heard their last album, just take everything that might of been a little loose and tighten it up until you’re afraid it’s gonna snap, then add a fresh coat of paint and attach CO2 canisters to it and you’ve got this album in a nutshell.

Vocalist and new kid on board, Adam Sloan has a much wider range of vocal styles than Steve Justice. Adam has the hardcore shouting deal down alright and even throws out a shrill shriek every once in a while. But occasionally his growling tends to waver and wobble and it’s a bit distracting. Other than that, I can’t complain about his performance and I welcome and accept him into the family.

I should also mention that Deceive Them All was mostly metalcore in musical direction, regardless of what you might of heard elsewhere. Execution is Deceive Them All’s polar opposite in terms of ratio. This time it’s 25% metalcore and 75% thrash which will hopefully expose these guys to a wider audience of Thrasholes!

Overall: A thrashy overhaul and a new vocalist make Execution a clear improvement over their last album. And while I wouldn’t recommend this album to everyone I know, I’d still recommend it to a shit-ton of them!

8/10

18 Wheels Of Justice On Facebook

Genre: Metalcore
Label: Metal Blade

As I Lay Dying. (Still with me?)

Yes, we all know them. Some of us LOVE them. Some of us HATE them. But I know that we can all agree on two things:

1) Tim Lambesis has a ridiculously funny last name, and…
2) Decas is a cash grab created to rake it in on the coming of their tenth year as “that band that has no business being on Metal Blade”.

Yeah, there are three brand new tracks, all of which are decent in their own rights. The melodic guitars, built on the foundation that An Ocean Between Us laid down and The Powerless Rise (supposedly) perfected, are pretty much the only thing that stands out as “exciting”. Other than the three new tracks, we have four remixes (club/dub-stepy bullshit) and a re-recorded medley of Beneath The Encasing. Ugh… I promise, I’m trying really hard to be fair here!

But the main focus here are the abysmal covers of Slayer’s War Ensemble and Judas Priest’s Hellion (Why?) and Electric Eye! (There is a cover of the Descendents’s Coffee Mug, but do you really care?) While the instrumentation isn’t bad at all, the vocals, both bellows and clean, just fucking kill any redeeming qualities I could muster.

Is this review even necessary? Those of you who hate As I Lay Dying weren’t going to buy it and were already ragging on them for covering Slayer and Priest, while those of you who love them already have your pre-orders in. Oh well… at least now you know what I think.

Overall: I just can’t help but think that there just wasn’t a whole lot of effort put out by As I Lay Dying in Decas. Like I said earlier, it’s a cash grab for gullible (or supremely dedicated) fans to blow their money on. I’d avoid it if you could help it.

3.5/10

As I Lay Dying Official
As I Lay Dying On Facebook

Genre: Metalcore

Label: Earache Records

I reviewed this Earache anomaly a few years ago, back when they were the up and coming melodic death metal act Ignominious Incarceration. And aside from switching monikers, they went ahead and switched genres too. Now they’re more metalcore than anything else.

…they were much better off before all the switcheroo-ing.

I mean, they manage to be a pretty decent pre-Howard Jones Killswitch Engage cover band (which just makes me laugh at track 6 entitled, Clones). But that’s like saying Lick It Up is better than Psycho Circus. In short: even if what I said was accurate, nobody will give a flying fuck.

In all seriousness, The Soulless play Isolated as a straight forward metalcore album that is, while mediocre, still entertaining and played well (and with soul, regardless of what the band is called). The vocals are pretty damned intense and are an improvement over the screaming in Of Winter Born. Drummin’? It’s typical ‘core fare. Good, but not great. Simplistic, but not lazy or sloppy. Honestly, the guitars are the most enjoyable part of Isolated since they’re heavy with melody, tight and technical and occasionally stray into a progressive area.

Overall: All needless bashing aside, The Soulless put together a good metalcore album here. It’s just that if you’re into this kind of music, YOU HAVE heard Isolated before! And if you were a fan of Ignominious Incarceration’s Of Winter Born, you’ll be confused, if not disappointed. An unoriginal release from a band that I expected so much more from.

6.5/10

The Soulless On Facebook

Genre: Metalcore, Melodic Death Metal, Hardcore

Label: Independent

After a shaky start with their citywide panned 2009 EP, Second Sight and a few harsh words exchanged between myself, and a couple members of the band about my “mis-categorizing” them in my coverage of their CD release party (F.Y.I. guys: your Metal-Archives page labels you as metalcore as well, so you might want to edit that), I was honestly ready to just toss this EP in the giveaway pile. A shitty EP, lukewarm live performance and drama, for me at least, do not an interesting metal band make.

But that would being playing dirty pool, wouldn’t it? So in the interest of fairness, let’s take an unbiased look at Under The Ashen Empire.

Immediately, I prefer Under The Ashen Empire to the earlier release due to the vocals alone! Frontman Jason Hooker’s (Hooker? V.D.? It was meant to be!) burly pipes belt out some top notch hardcore shouts ‘n’ screams that were severely missed in Von Doom’s earlier career. Also on the thumbs-up side of things is guitarist Billy Serocki innovative and aggressive riffing. The only time I didn’t catch myself going, “sweet fucking licks!” was to the opening of The Fade, which sounded like a discombobulated version of Amon Amarth’s The Pursuit Of Vikings. Von Doom also serves up a re-recording of fan favorite, The Human Condition that‘s an obvious improvement in everyway. Helped out undoubtedly by the crisp and clean mixing and mastering, courtesy of [BAMF] Studios.

Unfortunately, there is a fly or two in the ointment. While the re-recording of The Human Condition was welcome on one front, it felt like it took up space on this EP. If you’re flaunting a new line-up, stick to new material to help showcase the new sound. (But hey, at least they didn’t try cramming one of those lame, four minute atmospheric intros and/or outros into a five track EP!) There are also some pretty uninspired beats in here as well. While I have heard a lot worse (A LOT worse), it manages to drag the overall appeal of Under The Ashen Empire down a smidge.
Overall: While Von Doom isn’t the best metal band that Portland has to offer (in my opinion, that don’t mean shit by any means to most of you) they are galaxies away from being the worst. Under The Ashen Empire is a step forward for these guys and is definitely an EP to share with your friends if you want to show them why you think they rule.

8/10

Von Doom On Facebook

Von Doom On MySpace