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Eternal Gray
Kindless
(Raven/Listenable - 2002)
Formed from the remaining pieces of Betrayer after the split. While the others formed Emblaze/Nail Within, these guys picked up the pieces and created possibly the best metal release to ever come out of Israel. It is a stupendous and highly recommended death metal album from any point of view, however. The sound, if you can imagine this, is primarily Morbid Angel, with the roaring, slightly doomy and darkly melodic sounds of Hypocrisy, some influences of Death/Monstrosity, and some dark complex semi-melodic riffing of Nevermore. The melodious guitar content is mostly dark or doomy, not-quite Gothenberg style, although a couple of tracks do veer into At the Gates territory, but other times it is so dark it actually morphs into black metal. The Morbid Angel sound is strong and very well done, with jagged riffs and dark guitar dissonance, sometimes blatantly stealing Morbid Angel riffs and sounds. The compositions are very very good, with the natural flow and strong structure of Florida death metal. There is also some groove death metal, and some unique Middle-Eastern scales, intros and sounds which add a unique touch. The combination of all the above makes this an extremely dynamic, rich and very full death metal sound and the uniqueness is in how they put it all together. Vocals are a good strong mid-growl with range, with a bit of a harsh Schuldiner sound, and backed by guest vocals from Peter Tägtgren and Shmier from Destruction. And finally, it was recorded in the Abyss studio in Sweden under Tagtgren, and it shows. Run to buy this one.
Your Gods, My Enemies
(Independent/Season of Mist - 2010)
After many difficult line-up changes (only one founder was left for this outing), lost music, and other crises, they finally managed one more full-length album (initially released on a USB drive), which very unfortunately seems to be their last. There is a shift in the sound here slightly towards more Nevermore and less Morbid Angel and perhaps a little less melody, in other words many strange dissonant harmonic guitars and time-signatures, slightly more 'progressive' than the jagged and dark Morbid Angel of old, and more pounding and groove than the dark black-sounding tunes of the previous release. In some ways it's similar to the changes in Morbid Angel without David Vincent. But the genre is firmly technical/brutal death metal, which makes this one a dark and heavy sounding album. There is some Hypocrisy-esque dark musical phrasing, and more groove death metal that feels influenced by later Sepultura and deathcore. The new vocals this time are more guttural, low-range, gravelly, monotonous brutal-death growls, which sound good tonally but which don't help the songs musically. The production is also more open and dirty sounding than the previous release, but it's still very good and it has its advantages. Otherwise, there is much that is similar: Flowing compositions, many mid-tempo segments and darkly melodic segments, chugging death and heavy groove, all coming together for an intense and dynamic listen. Compared to the previous album it does slightly more interesting things, but it also shines slightly less in brilliance and powerfully sharp infectious energy. The groove sound also reduces from the earlier sharper death metal sound and this did get released when 'deathcore' (a misnomer) became popular, but although this contains snippets of deathcore sounds (some use of groove, a couple of breakdowns, and especially the nicely syncopated 'Blind Messiah'), this remains primarily within the death metal genre. I loved the more (occasional) progressive elements which are subtly and smoothly incorporated within a classic brutal death metal sound. A very solid buy; This one grows on you nicely and has a great dynamic sound and approach.
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