Band:
Mike Tiner – bass
Adam Pierce – drums
Ben Orum – guitar
Francesco Artusato – guitar
Hernan Hermida – vocals
Discography:
Hate, Malice, Revenge (2003)
The Price of Existence (2006)
Awaken the Dreamers (2008)
Guests:
Info
Zach Ohren – producer
Brent Elliot – artwork
Released 29/7-2011
Reviewed 12/7-2011
Musically I think that All Shall Perish are quite true to what we see on the album cover, their logo, the cover and the name all reflect what the music is about in the same manor as the bottom of a box of cookies does reflect your face. The music is a death metal/hardcore mix at least it is described like that by the band’s label Nuclear Blast; I think that is a rather good description, the music is heavy, aggressive, growls, it is all things heavy metal. The tempo is not particularly high anywhere on the album and it is melodic in short stints and in between it is quite a lot less melodic. The album has twelve songs and the time it takes to play it all is around fifty three minutes.
So, what about the album then? It is called This is Where it Ends and it immediately makes me wonder what will end, is it their career? The reign of Gengis Kahn? Bad television? The creative draught that plagues Hollywood? The awaken state? I have no idea what will end and I don’t really care either. I tend to like my extreme metal being of the very melodic kind with clear melodies and vocals that you can actually make out, besides some small parts where it is there, All Shall Perish has none of this. The vocals are slow and uninspired, actually this can be said about the entire thing: it feels uninspired, sterile and a bit dull. I think it is more of a sleeping pill than Zaleplon and I often find myself falling asleep while listening to this album and all of a sudden when I am conscious the next time I am listening to Arch Enemy or Asia in my playlist. If being a hypnotic drug was the goal when making this album I think it has shown to be a smashing success.
Still, I think this album has some upsides besides curing insomnia. It is well produced, the soundscape is fine and sound very modern. It does not induce vomiting as some extreme metal bands do, but jokes aside it has a quite good sound this album and it feels like it is what it would appear to be when looking at the album cover and that is also a positive and it has some songs that are decent and some interesting melodies as well, even if the last one was the first track on another album by another band.
All in all though it feels more like a change of sleep inducing medicine than it feels like something of a musical preference. It should be said that I am not a fan of death metal or hardcore, I like some death metal and extreme metal but far from all, so a little reservation may be well placed here. In the end though I find this album being too monotone, too long and too slow which makes it better as a hypnotic drug than album.
HHHHHHH
