This band needs an introduction because they're quite an unknown at the moment. This EP features Shanda Fredrick on vocals, Phillip Burns on guitars, Jeremy Brenton on bass and Patrick Warren on drums. Their music even though they're within the genre of doom metal, seems more like death/thrash because the guitars feature a strong crunch tone to them, but really slow paced. That would be the reason why they're put into the doom metal genre.

The vocals are oddly orchestrated. They're not typical doom metal type vocals even though it's a female doing the singing. They're quite unique and fit with the music quite well. Every song is slow tempo paced with some clean guitar bits, but not that many. I love the guitars the most because to me they're quite original. They don't sound like any band that I've ever heard. Doom metal to me is yes slow paced, however, the guitars sink it more into a death/thrash sound. Every song is dark and grim.

A band that definitely needs to be more widely well known because of their individualistic sound. There are no solos on this EP, just the rhythm guitar seeping well in the the feel of the doom sound vocals. No tempos that are fast paced at all. Still that doesn't take away the originality of the EP. All of the songs feature palm muted guitar chords mixed with a little bit of single string picked notes with hammer-ons and pull-offs. These bits mix well with the rhythms.

The production even though it's independent is quite well orchestrated. You can hear the guitars, vocals and drums quite clearly. The bass is a little hard to hear over the main guitars though. That's the only beef that I have with the production sound. Otherwise it's wonderfully orchestrated and well worth the money they put in to produce it. I'm sure that if this band stays together, they're going to do quite well when a full-length from them comes out.

I'd have to be honest and say that the EP didn't strike me as being anything interesting to listen to, but after a couple more spins, it became more intriguing. I'm hoping to hear a follow-up since they are still active as a band. Definitely worth checking out if your taste is amongst the death/thrash/doom genres. Just a really laid back metal EP with nothing but quality in songwriting and vocals that accommodate the guitars quite well. Pick up this one, it's a gem of an EP!

Rating: 8 (out of 10) ratings explained

Reviewed by Death8699
06/19/2012 20:08