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I’m not a deathcore historian, but I don’t think this was the first DC album. It was however, the one that brought it out into the open. This album has gathered up alot of steam, since people of all musical tastes are enjoying songs like "Entombment of a Machine" and "Knee Deep". Because of all the attention scene kids are giving JFAC and similar bands, JFAC has gained quite a bad reputation among the more “serious” metalheads.
Structurally, I don’t understand why people call this metalcore. It has it’s influences from the genre, but it’s definitely not metalcore. And some other people, even more astonishingly, call this death metal, usually the scene kids and a few metalheads, but again, it’s just influenced by death metal. “Doom” has a more complex structure than metalcore, but is not to the point of death metal, just yet. By the time they started playing death metal they sucked, so I guess simpler is better in this case. But is it a bad thing that they didn’t have DM structure? I mean, there is so much horrible generic DM out there (JFAC’s full-length included) that blows because the “artists” can’t write worth a shit. It is much better to write some simple and enjoyable deathcore than to add to the cesspool of generic DM.
The guitars here aren’t complex, the stuff isn’t too tricky or technical, but it really is enjoyable, there is a lot of palm muting, and the mixtures of palm muting, tremolo, pinch harmonics and some Gothenburg-esque riffs give the songs variety. The bass is actually audible, which is great. He adds another layer to the music with his playing, and I really like the bass drops. Drumming isn’t terribly complex either. He does a good job I think. Never does he really speed things up, but there is quite a bit of double bass and mid-paced blast beats.
One point of almost unanimous criticism: vocals. Pig squeals seem to be a hard thing for a lot of people to get around, but there are also those of us who enjoy them. Jonny Davy isn’t a great vocalist, as you can tell from Genesis, when he does anything other than pig squeals, on their debut full-length, it ceases to be interesting. Here, the vocals break up into pig squeals, hardcore-esque screams, high-pitched growls, and a few parts of actual DM vocals. I don’t see a problem with the vocals.
The bonus track, “Entities” has a fucking awesome solo. That track was written later, in their transition stage between DM and DC, and so it loses many pig squeals, gains a more DM structure with fewer breakdowns, and of course, the solo. The songwriting is somewhat epic on “Entities.”
Without reinventing the wheel, I still find this very enjoyable. Regardless of all the br00tal kiddies it brought into the metal scene, it's fucking good. Recommended to anyone who hasn’t heard it, you will either like it or hate it.
Standouts: Relinquished, Knee Deep, Entities. |
DOOM
1. Catharsis for the Buried (Intro) 00:59
2. Entombment of a Machine 04:11
3. Relinquished 04:56
4. Knee Deep 04:34
5. Suspended by the Throat 04:49
6. The Rising Tide 04:17
EP, King of the Monsters
November 9th, 2005 |
