It's not an easy task to create individual metal music. Canadians Feast Of Corpses do not try that, they trust to the power of brutal death metal, done in US style. Well, there's nothing wrong in that, if the band's second album 'Sickness of Mankind' was any good. Is it?

Gladly it is. The music simply rolls along so intuitively, that one can but get up and headbang it up. There's heaviness, varying tempos, catchy riffage, warped solos and lovely throat-lacerating high-pitched voice and gut-low growl duet to be heard. So, no real individuality to be found here, but I get such names as Disgorge (the USA one), Impaled and Cannibal Corpse to my mind while listening to Feast Of Corpses. The band understand the importance of fluctuating tempos, which vary from blasting to eerie slowness (e.g. fine opening of 'Exposed to Elements'). The band are more about muscle than technicality, and thy can write good enough, catchy songs, that have a red thread running in them.

The sound is heavy (low-tuned guitars and pounding bass) and grinding, not very clear. It's organic, even though drums are programmed. Partly, they sound very real, thanks to good samples. During faster beats it's obvious that they are not acoustic ones. There's variety in the beats, not repeating same stuff in every song. However, I still encourage the band to seek out for a flesh 'n' blood skinsbasher. Lyrics deserve to be mentioned: sometimes these macabre tales are written from the point of a victim. One minus is annoying misspellings in printed lyrics. The cover artwork is good and professionally printed, although this is an independent release.

'Sickness of Mankind' contains good enough songwriting and performances, but if you are looking for a bit of individuality, it can't be found here I'm afraid. But if you're okay by that, Feast Of Corpses are worth to be checked out if pounding US death metal is what you're yearning for, because there's a million and one bad albums you could pick up from that genre.

Rating: 6 (out of 10) ratings explained

Reviewed by Lane
03/24/2008 19:13