Excellent sampling of Death Metal bands
06/29/2000
(5 out of 5 stars)
"I am myself just getting into this genre - I was drawn to this collection because of the track by In Flames, an INCREDIBLE band, and this track is only otherwise available on their difficult-to-find-in-the-USA EP "Black Ash Inheritance."Needless to say, the In Flames track is jaw-dropping, kick-$hitting metal. These bastards can PLAY. But I was surprised how consistently good most of the other bands are:The Haunted turn out a great demo called "Shattered," very thrash, super-fast. A great side-project by the In Flames guitarist called Gardenian submits a fantastic track as well, with interesting harmonies in the chorus (surprisingly melodic for this kind of music). Also featured on this collection is Arch Enemy, apparently a fairly well-known band, and they have an awesome song called "Black Earth" that compliments In Flames' "Goliaths Disarm Their Davids" very well. A band called Thy Serpent have a 9-minute-plus epic at the end of the collection which is very cool, and keeps you interested.Finally, I am very happy to find a band called Dark Tranquility. I have checked on AMG and the user reviews here on Amazon and between those reviews and the awesome track "Razorfever" on this collection, I will DEFINITELY be checking out some of their other stuff.There's a lot of more irritating bands on this collection - especially the high-voiced singers, those always seem really out of place among the death growlers, and kinda wussy - and somewhere in the middle I stop paying as much attention, but all told, this is a fantastic CD and if you're looking for a way to let death metal's foot in your door, this is a great option."
Track Listings (16) - Disc #1