A possible case of "should've changed the name"... Gorefest. What that brings to your mind? Death metal was Gorefest's stuff once, but this time it's something very different. Sounds familiar, eh?!

Jan-Chris de Koeijer's bellowing vocals are the link to death metal days of the yore. Musically, Gorefest have matured for sure, but taking a step this big can be harmful. Old fans probably loathe you and new fans are always hard to get. Basically, the music is heavy metal. Influences from NWOBHM (new wave of British heavy metal, e.g. Iron Maiden, Samson and such) and 70s rock, even 60s rock are audible. Sound is nicely heavy, which saves a lot. But what really matters are riffs. Good, catchy riffs. Gorefest didn't run short on them, for sure! A couple of later tracks aren't too good, but a good part of the music is simply infectious. It just took some listenings before the music started to rock big time. While songs are quite simple, playing is great.

This is the fourth and second last album from the band, before splitting up. This change from death metal band to more rocking metal band happened with many bands of death metal genre, Carcass and Entombed being probably the biggest ones. Other side of the thing is that many bands dig their own grave doing the same records again and again. It's just a matter of luck, how it all goes... Who knows how many of those death metal bands there were in mid 1990s and Gorefest probably felt they must evolve to stick their heads above the mass of death metal. They took a road to more "rocking" things with their third album 'Erase' from 1994.

Cover art is extremely simple. Colorful booklet and pictures of nature, raw steak and a bondaged teddy bear. They surely must have warned death metal freaks early enough... Lyrics are about life, basically. Different feelings and human destinies. They are more rock than metal, for sure.

The music coming from soul is usually good. This sounds soulful, real. This also rocks. If you seek death metal, I'm afraid this isn't your solution. Fucking nice beer-drinking record, this one!

Rating: 7 (out of 10) ratings explained

Reviewed by Lane
11/04/2002 09:50