I was approached on Metal Archives by one of the band members to review their only release, Ouroboros. As I was getting ready to write this review, I saw autothrall had already written one, said just about everything I was planning to say, and gave it the same rating I was planning to give it. So, I'll have to think of a different way to say it.
Their Myspace page makes clear that they want extreme metal to go back to a simpler time, before crazy time signatures and other oddities that have creeped into the genre. Their music is mostly simple, old-school death metal, in the style of Morbid Angel
but with the intentional campiness of Cannibal Corpse. At times it even makes me think of Dethklok--during the intro to the title track, I half-expected to hear, "Do you folks like coffee?" The album starts on a throwaway noise/sample track, and goes into some pretty good death metal for the next couple tracks. "This Disconnection" is the first misstep along the way, as the generic-sounding death/black vocals force themselves into the forefront. The rhythm section they play behind the solo at the end is really cool, though. Follow-up "Kentucky Fried Children" is completely generic and intentionally dumb (he literally says "KFC" several times).
After that, they quickly redeem themselves with two standout tracks, "The Messiah's Whore" (featuring a highly memorable verse and great solo) and "Ouroboros" (with a blackened touch to the death). Sadly, the album doesn't go out quite as strong, with three forgettable but passable tracks (the vocals distract again on "Disfigured, the Insane").
All told, it's a half-hour of simple, old-school death metal played by guys who clearly love the genre's basics. It's a lot of fun, and I give it 3 out of 5 stars.
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