Melancholia : "Book of Ruination"

There is something about this raw crusty attack combined with a memorably melodic hook to its savage riff that My ears find compelling. The drummer is really serious. There is a jazz-like manner in which he turns some of his percussive phrasing around. The organic nature of the recording sounds like they are jamming in their rehearsal space you stumbled in on their creative moment. The punchy attack is relentless, but they are hitting you with worthwhile riffing. The rule around here is cool riffs do not a good song make, and these guys show you how you do not have to compromise the cool riffs to live up to this. The throat-ravaging vocals have a purpose rather than just being obligatory. The anguish they convey is nothing new, but what they do is effective. 

"Circadian Throes " finds them making a dynamic shift into a more melodic guitar progression that does not try to bite your throat. This provides a needed dynamic shift to prove they are capable of much more than just banging things out. The counterpoint to this is the blast beats that follow. In this regard, they remind me a little of Portrayal of Guilt's rawer more heavy-handed moments. You can hear the hard-core in their musical DNA. The blast beats feel a little like taking the easy way out as a means of transitioning "Yersinia in Blood' works off a palm-muted groove at times but is generally not as captivating as the first two songs. 

"No Place of Honor" finds the scowling of the vocals fading into the background and the stomping anger of the blackened riffing, setting them back on solid songwriting footing. The guitars have a great deal of command here. By the time we get to "Caught in Eternity's Jaws" the manic momentum has begun to really bring a more uniform buzz to things. The halftime riff toward the end is cool, and there is enough dynamics to feel like they still care about songs. The last song does not break any new ground and even finds the band raging around familiar temper tantrums from songs past. The way the vocals are emoted makes this feel more like blackened hardcore. I will give this album a 9, it's a testament to the quality stuff Brutal Panda is putting out these days.