The
third album of this greenkeepers is one with influences of several styles in
their songs. Influences of swampy groovy death metal, black metal, thrash and a
lot of doom pass by in the several tracks.
The
first song is immediately one I appreciate and like the most. A rather up tempo
death metal track with crunchy Celtic Frost kind of riffs, but with a very
groovy (Swedish) rhytmn. The vocals of Chuck Labossiere and Gillishammer are low
grunting ones and fit this genre. The second song "Defile" is a mid-tempo
track again with a groove and chain-saw riffing. So far nothing to complain
about.
Then with the third song they slow down and a song in My Dying Bride and
Paradise Lost style follows. Fortunately the next track "Mindfold" has more
tempo and is the fastest track on this CD. The vocals are even a bit more biting
and aggressive here.
With "Genome Degradation" the band returns to the doomier side of their music
and with "Searing Cital" they even slow down in tempo more and a band like
Winter (the slowest band I know) enters my mind. The doom tracks I find their
weakest, they aren't very long tracks, but after 3 minutes I get a bit bored.
The songs are just not exiting enough for me to enjoy from start to finish.
"Garden Raiding" is the third slow track in a row and that should have been
again a faster track like the opener for example to keep the CD in balance.
Their version of "Open Casket" is fortunately a good one and with Tim Roth (Into
Eternity) and Chuck Wepfer (Broken Hope) as guests they have my full attention
again. The version of Psychotic Gardening is a lot slower than the original and
I think they succeeded in changing but not destroying the song. "Journey to the
Sun" is again a slow My Dying Bride influenced kind of track and it makes this album
go out a bit like a night candle.
For
me this album could have been better by adding more (up) tempo songs to the play
list and skipping a few slow tracks. However if you like more doomier stuff you
will not complain about that at all, because it is all executed well.
