Death is June- Gruesome : "Silent Echoes"

 While there is a lot of hype around this band paying homage to Death, I don't hear a ton of Chuck in what they are doing, though in some of the more progressive passages, you might be able to trace it back. Instead, there is a thrashing attack that brings "Arise" era Sepultura to mind. The rapid-fire double bass of ex-Malevolent Creation drummer Gus Rios is the driving heartbeat of these songs. "A Darkened Window" finds many twists and turns in the brisk riffs unwinding. 

It was around fragility that the formula these songs are forged began to allow this to fade into the background. The scowl of the vocals is very compressed in the mix, and uttered in a taunt, punchy fashion rather than being a ringing roar. This is one of the areas that gives me Sepultura vibes. The drumming does take more chances here as he lets up on some of the more relentless bombardment. This creates space for haunting guitar melodies to emerge. 'Shards" finds a slithering groove breaking up the more ranging attack. The drumming continues to impress. By the time we get to the title track, it is beginning to sound more uniform, as the vocals are barked out similarly to the previous song. The more deliberate moments are the most interesting. 

"Voice Within the Void" does experiment slightly, but does not venture far from what they have established here. "Fragment of Psyche" pours on the speed again. Perhaps the aggression is given more focus, though some memorable riffs come to the surface. Guitar solos seem to flourish a little more. The Death vibes are tempered by a Sepultura-like thrashing once again here, that is broken up by the more technical precision, as they lay on the speed. There is a pretty killer chug in the middle of the song, but the rule here is cool riffs alone do not a good song make, and it's a hard and fast rule, pretty much like the vibes of this one.  The patter of the drums also brings a thought to mind about how the production might be a little too pristine and diminish the impact of the heaviness, making it feel more like thrash. In particular, here reminds me of Coroner. 

The Coroner feel of the previous song has me going into the last song, pondering the line between death metal and thrash. The song gives me more questions than answers in this regard. Things shift under the guitar solo, and if you are super-into guitar solos, this will be a key selling point for you. I can hear where people are going to love this. I could use a marginally more organic feel to the guitar tone. I will give this one a 9, certainly putting in the top tier of death metal so far, but there are a handful of albums that have given me a little closer to what I prefer in this regard, but these guys are masters at what they are doing for sure.Relapse Records is releasing this.  

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