Discarnatus : "Awakened Through Pain"

We are playing catch up here to some extent as these guys came out back in Feb. This Michigan band proves that colder regions are more suited for black metal right from the instrumental opening. When it gets into the first dark and nasty piece of pounding. They don't don't have to use blast beats all the time though, the blasts do show up. It's a rawer production value than most of the post- Darkthrone bands I like, so the drum sound is not as big and thundering as it could be, but the song and the tangible passion poured into the playing allows me to listen to the potential. They range from a more classic almost Dissection like sound to something nastier and crusty. The vocals have more of a crust snarl so them, almost to the point of being somewhat Eyehategod like in their throat torturing tactics. Some chords are give more attention to detail in how they are picked out than others to create a more melodic dynamic.Things get even nastier on the blastier "World Hidden"

There is a little bit of punk to the rawer and more straight forward 'Eyes of White". It has come catchy punches. The snarls seem a little random and at time the whole songs seems like a little more though could have been in the fine tuning, but there energy is infectious and you can see how this would be really fun live. There is a more of a thrash attack to "Lurking Entity", with riffs that have the right chemistry to pull you in. The vocals have more purpose on "Flesh Merchant" which feels more like a death metal song to me than black metal. The chant of this blood runs cold packs the right punch to make me forgiving. You begin to suspect they might be more of a blackened death metal band on "Hatred Behind a Heart". The vocals gradually become more death metal. The first song that really strikes me a filler is "Internal War", but even then there is a riff that reminds me a little of Tool that I like that crops up midway into the song to make the spice flow. To be honest at this point in the album the death metal vocals are a little boring to me, the higher and nastier snarls work better.

The album goes out on a speedy storm of blasting. There are some riffs that give a little more dynamics than the actual onslaught that hits when the song kicks in as they fall some where in-between death metal and black metal. I'll give this album a 7.5, it's fun, but loses a little of the momentum for me when it begins to gradually grow more death metal as it progresses.