Death is June - Snuffed on Sight : "Smoke"

 

I went into this hoping it would have more of a Left to Suffer, given some of the brief glimpses of hip-hop influence of the lead single "Time to Dip" . Alas, this death core band, but nothing with that level of hook drives their sound. In some ways the slam / grind components of their sound have more in common with Sanguisugabogg, but they are not as skilled in their arrangements , not are their guitars wielded with the same level of finesse that Sanguisugabogg pummels you with. The vocals are the most grating part of their sound as the pig squeals  and gutturals have been gurgled like this since metal core first hit Myspace, back in the day. 

The drummer almost saves the song "Slippin" as it shifts out of riffs with a manner of dexterity. However the purpose of the song is unclear, and there is nothing that hooks you into it's herky jerky fray. No terrible just not purposeful in the song writing. "DTD" offers up more of the same, but with less charm in so doing. If I was impressed by just heavy alone this song might have more of an impact. It is a shame the interlude "Smoke Break" could not have found the sounds used in a more effective manner by incorporating it into their songs in order to break the monotony that has fully set it by the time we get to "Repeat Offender" which is just more of the same. 

"Dummy" propelled by the kind of  death metal blast that hits the snare in a flat manner. It is one of my metal pet peeves, though punk music also does it at times. The more deliberate pound of the title track works better , but the band mucks things up with the chaos that is vomited forth. I will give this album a 6, so not the worst metal album I have heard. This is their debut album so hopefully they learn a great deal if they take these songs on the road. If you are millennial into metal core I guess it does not matter as this sounds like everything else.