Vomitory : "In Death Throes"

 

The problem I had with their last album, "All Heads are Gonna Roll," which only earned a 6.5, was that it came across as a one-trick pony. The songs bled together due to the uniform sound. It only gave death metal fans stuck in a certain era the fix they needed: the energetic 90s death metal, breathe. They are redeeming themselves here. The band came with more purpose this time around, finding the opening track holds more in common with American death metal than it does with the Swedish countrymen that normally either default to melod-death with twin guitar harmonies that sound more like power metal, or they are a total Entombed rip-off.

A song like "Forever Scorned" might not be the most original thing you are going to hear, but it shows they learned their lesson and can slow things down and attack you with greater purpose at slower speeds. There is a great deal of groove, melody, and purpose from "Wrath Unbound," which is really all I am asking death metal bands to bring to balance out the aggression and keep things from being a monochrome battery of the ears. It is not until the title track that they really pour on the speed, which was the focus of the last album. It's not as effective as what they did on the first four songs. The song that follows this "Cataclysmic Flesh Front" is also racing with a great speed behind it, resulting in a blur of guitar. Dropping on Metal Blade Records.

"Two and a Half Men" is fast but more thrashing, so it's not just a buzz of guitars rushing past you. Some of the more nuanced moments are handled in a more Cannibal Corpse-like manner here. The bass line to "Erased in Red" helps set the powerful tone for the song. It shows they are stronger with groove at the core of the riffs. "The Zombie War General" also carries purpose in it's chug rather than getting caught up in a blur of speed until it's called for. "Oblivion Protocol" finds the guitar solos at the beginning, setting the tone for the song's epic nature with larger-than-life drumming taking command.This album is a huge improvement over the previous release so much so it gets a 9,not breaking any new ground for death metal, but working well with the tools already in place.

9.2

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