Death is June - Bear Mace : "Slaves of the Wolf"

There is a more rock-n-roll swagger to this band's sound, with the low growl of the vocals rooted in the genre, though they are fairly well articulated for a growl. To their credit, they care about songwriting. Let's see if this is something that stands up throughout the album, as they offer a more rapid-fire thrashing on the second song. While the melodic soloing works, they stomp into things with less hook than on the first song. There is a 90s death metal to what is going down here. There is also a Swedish feel to "Drown Them," falling somewhere between Entombed and At the Gates, with one more deliberate riff that casts a doomy shadow over the song. 

With a song like "The Iceman Cometh," it feels like they are playing 40 bpm ahead of where they groove would be, which is their only compromise in the songwriting department that the need for speed compensates for. Midway into the album, the songs begin to run together, as things are so straightforward forward, and there is little in the way of dynamics or atmosphere to break things up . There is a little more groove to "Heretics Burn."  

"Prophecy" is a flurry of double with guitar solos sweeping atop it. Then things are more at a Deicide, though with the vocals offering less punchy accents over it. The chorus is marginally more memorable. The thrash influence is pretty strong here.  "Cancerous Winds" closes the album and pours on more speed, which feels a little redundant, but even with the moshing breakdown before the last guitar solo, it's too little to late. . I'll give this album an 8, they do a great job of what they are doing, which is too back to basics for my tastes, though I appreciate the era they are drawing influence from. 

pst253