Street Tombs : " Reclusive Decay"

 This band from Sante Fe, is pretty much recycling old school death metal. In doing so they have invoked the days when death metal crawled out of the more aggressive darker side of thrash, so bands like Morbid Angel, Bolt Thrower and early Unleashed and can be heard in their in-your-face attack. This is done in a catchy manner on the first song than the faster second track which could be any death metal band from the late 80s. There is ample Slayer influence at times, but "Hell Awaits" is the single biggest influence on death metal at the time, so this is to be expected at well. The lows are a low growl that buries the lyrics as the guitar race around it. The drums are a little buried in the mix as well.  

There are some creepier guitar melodies to "Devour" which work better for me. However even then they are not reinventing the wheel, and pretty much spinning around heavy nostalgia. It is more thought out as a song, which when bands like this get caught up in bringing a sound back from the dead that tends to be the focal point. So that plays to their favor, after all when it comes to this kind of death metal, I am listening for what makes them stand out from the pack. for death metal is marginally faster than mid-tempo, so they are not tripping over themselves in order to play the fastest. I am also surprised they do not hit you with a barrage of guitar solos.  

"Rising Torment " is not exceeding my expectations when it comes to this sort of thing. Not really that hooky in terms of the razor-sharp tiffs. By the time we get to the more up-tempo ripper " Commanding Voice of the Damned" I feel like that these guys are certainly proficient at what they are doing, but it feels like in any city you go to with a metal scene there is going to be at least one band who does this. They might do it better than most, but certainly not in the same league as the originators, no matter how much diving bombing is going on. The galloping chugs of the last song are very effective. Original not so much. But head band worth for sure. I will give these guys an 8, if you do not own the albums by the bands who started this then this might seem new to you, it is a worthy tribute for sure.