Through The Eyes Of The Dead - Malice
Posted on September 01, 2007 at 8:03 am by admin
There’s currently some hope out there that there’s going to be big change-up with metalcore very soon. My theory is that the writing is already on the wall, and that some of the bigger and more significant bands in the genre are getting close to completely jumping ship if they haven’t already, leaving all the small time posers to help beat the genre to death while going nowhere fast.
I’m sure many of us have heard a band with a glimmer of hope, and wished they would actually institute some change to bring in more creativity, only to play it safe and make the same album again. I’m going to admit, I didn’t like the previous Through The Eyes Of The Dead album, “Bloodlust”, as I felt it was melodic metalcore with blast beats, more double bass pulses, and some quickly picked riffs.
On “Malice”, you can really hear Through The Eyes Of The Dead find their voice, particularly in the fast picked low harmonies. It’s almost as though those particular harmonies meet a halfway point between At The Gates and Morbid Angel. And speaking of old-school death metal bands, it really feels like Through The Eyes Of The Dead took their time to take a look back at their 90’s underground heritage for inspiration. There’s so many moments where they come close to Morbid Angel or Cannibal Corpse (and the very odd moments that sound just like both those bands). “Malice” also starts off with a lot of Swedish inspired melodies, which have become now more of an influence rather than a direct rip-off. Going through the album front to back finds Through The Eyes Of The Dead slowly phasing out those melodies for a nastier dual guitar attack.
Also being trimmed down are single note breakdowns. There’s a few instances where the blatant hardcore styled breakdowns are beaten pretty hard. Having a lot fewer of them makes them a lot more tolerable, but they’re still there, nonetheless. There are also the major metal variants on the single note breakdowns, with a more metallic thrash, or death metal sharpened pedal tone attack supported by pulsating drums. The best breakdowns are when Through The Eyes Of The Dead go full force with slow, churning, gloomy death, from holding down the buzz-saw chords, to chugging up and down the guitar neck. Who’d think that not going for the lowest note all the time would actually end up being heavier?
Something that must be spoken of is the vocalist change. I was actually surprised how many people actually still claim to like Anthony Gunnels after departing the band, as it always seems to be the thing to dislike the old guy. He could really hold that airy scream well, and the video for “Two Inches From A Main Artery”, as well as pictures from the New England Metal And Hardcore Festival suggest he was a charismatic frontman. Anthony Gunnels voice was one of the great things about the previous album “Bloodlust”, and as it stands I thought he was a great vocalist. His replacement, Nate Johnson is considered by many to have one of the most powerful voices in the next generation of death metal. His vocals provide a huge change to the overall sound of Through The Eyes Of The Dead to help signify a new beginning, right along with the maturity of the music. Sure Anthony was topped, but by one of the best.
Everything seems set to ditch metalcore, and the unfortunate generic abominations that record labels and shallow coattail riding posers continue to push on the rest of us completely on the next Through The Eyes Of The Dead album. Already the future is looking bigger and brighter.
The Official Through The Eyes Of The Dead Website
Through The Eyes Of The Dead at MySpace
Through The Eyes Of The Dead at Prosthetic Records
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