Thy Art is Murder : "Godlike"

 I reviewed this band's 2015 album "Holy War" and gave it a 6, so not not that impressive with not only the band but the metal core genre they rode in on. Things have improved for a number of reasons here. Though I must caution myself against being too optimistic , since a common problem extreme metal has it while possessing the ability to stun you with their heaviness as it slaps you across the ears on the initial listen, it leaves you asking, ok but can these guys write a song. There is some hint they can on the first song, but perhaps it is just the ability to write break down riff after break down riff. What is better this time around is the guitar sound is less processed and has some heft that convinces me they mean what they are playing and not fucking around. 

"Blood Throne' makes it evident they are writing more compact punchy songs, and not fucking around with solos or mathy riff tricks. They are writing hooks for the chorus despite limiting things to a more deathly version of a hard core scream. The have an impressive chug on "Join Me in Armageddon" . Their press release refers to them as blackened death metal, which must have been written by someone who has never listened to blackened death metal. There is nothing black metal about what they do. The stompy half time feel they converge upon owes more to hard core, thus the metal core label sticks pretty well to what they do. Each song begins to feel not as inspired as the one before it. 

"Keres" digs into the more powerful gut churning low end of the guitars before they speed things up for no good reason that actually might contribute to the song. It's not until the hard core gang vocals come in that it finds the song in working order. Blast beats seem like they are trying to hard and not playing to their strengths and they certainly do not make this black metal, which is based more off a mood. This album is darker and angrier than "Holy War", so that plays into things going better for them. The first real shift in guitar tones occurs on "Everything Unwanted" though the speed things up and lose the progress they were making. Once that happens all the break downs in the world can not save them. The album cover fits their sound well, as nothing calls for a pentagram , but there it is, and the skeleton is well drawn, but pretty an over done trope when it comes to metal. Things that apply to their music as well. 

"Lesson in Pain" starts like you might expect any band of this nature to. The machine gun chug works well and sounds good, it might convince you live until they speed things up into a rushed mess.  The syncopation works well, I could just do without the sped up portions .The metal core trope of staggering the punches to create a more djent like sound, goes down here when was over almost 5 years ago. The title track lumbers into a more Morbid Angel inspired riffs that finds them in a machine like groove  The syncopated break down , might works as a groove, but they have already gone to every well this song is made of too many times. The hyper aggressive drummer might impress high school. kids by over playing but more discerning ear might notice he is the band's problem. Midway into the song his over playing is already boring me. 

The vocals keep things at a dry growl for most of the album, though there are death metal lows tossed into things at time, as he is capable of a higher black metal tone as well, though that voice alone does not make them black metal. "Anathema" finds me trying to endure the album rather than enjoy it ,as it stomp around and speeds things up in equal measure. They are capable musicians , perhaps not as finely tuned when it comes to writing songs. "Bermuda' closes the album with a little more ambiance, as least more than what they have already hit you with on this album. The begin to take a more deliberate approach to the song, making this one of the better moments on this album if they do not show restraint and speed things up it will throw this effort into the trash can. The more deliberate pound works well. This helped to tip the balance for me, and I will give this album an 8, so it is the sound of the band reclaiming themselves.  

Thy Art is Murder :"Holy War"

I am not sure what death core really is. I am even more confused if it includes the kind of Meshuggah herky jerky djenty chugging that the first song on Thy Art Is Murder's new album kicks of with. This is my first time hearing this band and I am only checking them out because they are playing with King Diamond on the Mayhem Tour. I known the Devil Wears Prada and Whitechapel are both playing as well ,but I don't feel the need to check either of those out as I think the glimpses I have heard were enough to tell me they suck. The opener to this album works for me, the second song "Lightbearer" is a little more tedious. There is some atmospheric sounds echoing in the background, but nothing is really grabbing me. The drummer is good. His double bass is on point.

It is not disparaging when the vocals rasp out all the things like christ and Allah that people die  on the title track ". The guitarist is trying to playing over the drummer rather than playing with him at some points. The converging chant and chug formula is in full effect. It's not terrible. The guitar solo uses more restraint than you might imagine something like this doing. If the name Winston McCall means anything to you, then know he is on the song "Coffin Dragger", which i not really distinguished much differently than the other. I imagine this McCall fellow is the singer further back in the mix who is gruffly barking like a hard core rap.

"Fur and Claw" is another tightly triggered chug fest about human parasites. The formula is pretty apparent sometimes they speed until , throwing themselves into blasting death metal more keen on technique than the crushing power.They do not shy away from the break downs. The guitar solos become more fluid and impressive. The groove to "Deliver us to Evil' is catchier at first as well as the when they the songs title. The guitar tone doesn't dramatically shift until the song "Emptiness". It become clear and hollow for the intro before they explode back into what they do. As metal goes this is more lower common denominator and all the thinking , which is not a lot is being done for you here. This is more accessible than black metal for sure. While heavy and abrasive due to the vocals , it is not dissonant are possess any real emotional ugliness.

"VIolent Reckoning" is a similar blend of feigned menace from the multi tracked vocals and mean technical chugging from the guitar. If drumming alone was enough to make an album then this one be one of the years best metal releases for sure. Instead we get some breakdown that fall somewhere between nu-metal and hardcore. There is some atmospheric growling at the intro of "Naked And Cold" that hangs on the chord with darker determination and breaks away from the sound they have over indulged in unti lthe songs takes off. But this little shift in dynamics doesn't bore you as if they had gone right into the chugging. The solo section floats into a slower melody that also helps switch things up. I'll count the bonus track "Vengeance " as part of the album since that is how I am hearing. It doesn't really bring anything new to the table.

The album sounds good, but eventually all of the songs begin to sound the same. I know death core gets called false by more traditional metal head and I can only imagine this is because of it's nu metal leaning, the clean production makes it seem less heavy despite the best attempts of the vocals which are as guttural as your average death metal band. My finance was playing Dark Tranquility in the car the other day and I can hear similarities. I'll give this one a 6 its not bad but not blowing me away either.