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Brutal death metal, born from the United States (more or less), in
turn helped birth the more melodic sound of Gothenburg death metal,
which spread across Europe and ultimately back to the United States. And
Americans are continuing the cycle by melding melodic death metal with
hardcore traditions to create metalcore, a relatively recent style
ranging from catchy commercial bands like Killswitch Engage or Bullets for
My Valentine to some of the most extreme, brutal music on the planet
(Behold... the Arctopus or the Number Twelve Looks Like You, anyone?).
As with any style of music that is closely descended from another
pre-existing style (which is pretty much every style there is), there are
bands playing this type of metal well, and others who serve only to drag
the genre down. Thankfully, California's All Shall Perish is one of the former. And
while displaying some of the generic mediocrity prevalent to the genre,
this five-piece manages to hold their own and make a strong claim for
the style's validity amongst extreme metal fans. If Slipknot were to forsake all their hip hop influences and most of
their nu metal in exchange for a much greater devotion to death metal
and a healthy dose of metalcore, they would sound a lot like All Shall
Perish. This is a band that injects every song with catchy melodies and
rhythmic accessibility, and yet manages to incorporate at least one
blast beat per tune (save only the instrumental segue "Interlude").
Complex breakdowns, seemingly random tempo shifts, and enough technicality
to challenge even the most virtuosic of prog metal bands are all
characteristics of All Shall Perish, and these elements are mixed together and
boiled down to create one of the more impressive technical death
metal/metalcore albums of the year. "Eradicate" manages to be crushingly brutal and anthemic at the same
time. From bouncing nu metal crunch to Cannibal Corpse-esque tapping
to bass drops to unfathomably complex riffage, All Shall Perish
establish themselves right from the beginning as a cataclysmic force of death
metal and metalcore. "Wage Slaves" brings out some of the band's
strongest Slipknot similarities. "Prisoner of War" boasts excellent (and
audible!) bass guitar skills. The aforementioned "Interlude" shows off
the band's lighter side, a la the Dillinger Escape Plan or The End. "The
True Beast" is a bulldozer, plain and simple. And "The Last Relapse"
brings All Shall Perish's sophomore release to an aggressive yet solemn
close. Unfortunately, as impressive as All Shall Perish are to listen to,
once the disc has stopped spinning there isn't much more than shocking
musicianship to bring the listener back for another round. None of the
tracks are especially catchy, at least in a melodic sense, and upon
closer examination there isn't a whole lot to the sound of All Shall
Perish to differentiate themselves from other metalcore, death core, or
extreme core artists. "The Price of Existence" is expertly-played and
powerfully-performed, but it struggles a bit to establish itself as a
worthy purchase outside of those criteria. Nonetheless, if you like your music two parts melodic and three
parts brutal, you should certainly check out All Shall Perish. I cannot
vouch for their debut album, as I have yet to hear it, but "The Price of
Existence" is a strong release by a band that is young but rich with
promise. And while this style of brutal, technical metalcore isn't quite
as fresh as it was when I first started reviewing for the Metal Coven,
All Shall Perish easily prove themselves masters of the genre and
purveyors of impressive extreme music in their own right. |
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