Death is complex.
All Shall Perish are an American death metal quintet with a technical, theatrical hardcore edge, interestingly there are traces of 80s hair metal swimming about in the mix occasionally so the result is something like Cradle of Filth meets Avenged Sevenfold. Likened to bands such as Job For a Cowboy, ASP have a similar intent, basically to ruin your ears, however they are not as punishingly heavy or inventive as JFAC.
All Shall Perish still have some great tracks on offer though; ‘Never...Again’ slips easily between the usual death metal vocals, super heavy chugging riffs and almost cheesy yet impressive guitar twiddling, it is a very sparse tune though and sounds a bit like there’s something missing from the mix. Opener, ‘When Life Meant More’ is more like it, with unrelenting fret wankery, blood curdling screams and intense drumming, nicely done. The one minute ten ‘For The Ones We Left Behind’ could have been one of the best tracks; lovely instrumental echoes give some respite from the chugs, but it’s treated as a transitional piece and never built on, which is a shame (the album does this a few times by using potentially epic sweeping tunes as filler between the heavier tracks). It does move into ‘Awaken the Dreamers’ though, which is a great tune, the technical side is ramped up and the bass is brilliantly funky, the track also has a slightly melodic edge which makes it more memorable.
The pace is bought down for the start of ‘Memories of a Glass Sanctuary’ which is a dreamy, moody track, showing off the band’s song-writing skills but still with some complex guitars, again though, it’s over too soon. ‘Stabbing to Preserve Dissimulation’ goes full on to pull you back in, fast in pace and with mathy guitars, they finally slay you, and it makes you wish they’d done it sooner. From then on in the album seems to find the momentum it was lacking in the first half and things are pretty epic and devastating until the end; watch out for the almost Guns and Roses solo on ‘From So Far Away’ which is superb.
A mixed bag at first, but eventually when the record gathers pace it slays you as you always wanted it to. Great tunes, properly heavy at times and with some nice touches.