Lungburner : "Dogma"

 

This industrial-strength death metal band comes from Atlanta. They hammer into things with some thoughtful melodic layering of the guitars. The vocals are a little more of an afterthought as they are buried in the mix. The mix is weird on this album and plays as both a weakness and a strength. It leaves space for an atmospheric feel, but since it buries the vocals makes it less song-focused and more about their sound.

"The Sin of Defiance" leaves some room open for melody from the guitars to set the mood. This is more effective than when they are just hammering you, as it shows they care about the songs by creating dynamics. This is something it is easy to take for granted in the larger world of metal, though something I place great emphasis on here.  This is a guitar band, as they are first and foremost when it comes to where the spotlight falls. The vocals are a rather one-dimensional growl, so no big loss that they fall into the guitars. To their credit, they are articulate enough to discern a lyric here and there. 

"The Fall" basks in its own ambiance until they are ready to lay the smack down in a sludged-out manner.  "Apostasy" is more deliberate. The electronic sounds and samples seem to bookend the meat of the music and are not as large a factor as I expected them to be, with some just regular metal riffs dominating a song like "Misery." This could be your average death metal band with an ear for sludgey sounds. I think more variance from the vocals could be useful for them to consider in the future. 

The last song just kinda of feels like your average death doom band with a little more of a stomp to the riff. works for what it is , but is not blowing me away either or demanding me to headbang, perhaps it might if you like your death doom on the dense and dirty side. I really liked how the guitar melodies were layered on the first few songs so it raised my expectations. I will give this one an 8.5, as the melodies the guitar does employ show they care enough about songwriting to put them at the head of the pack when it comes to bands rising from the underground of the Atlanta Metal scene to the world stage, where they we be appreciated by metal heads with more bong-laden eardrums. Being released on Terminus Hate City.

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