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Dead Label

Sense Of Slaughter

Written by: PP on 09/06/2012 13:53:21

The importance of a band like Architects in the UK region must not be undermined. Recent couple of years have seen numerous bands attempt to interpret their muscular, almost totally unmelodic brand of metalcore which relies on a contrast between monotone screamed vocals and some quality riffing to drive home their point, which is that not all metalcore needs to steal from Gothenburg to sound good. Dead Label, who are based in Ireland, are one of these bands, and on their debut album "Sense Of Slaughter" they try to emulate Architects' breakthrough album "Hollow Crown" almost to the letter.

Harshly screaming frontman with next to no melody to his vocals? Check. Groovy riffs that are decidedly metalcore but borrow enough from other styles as well to stick out positively? Check. Ability to write colossal metalcore hits in the vein of "Early Grave"? Half-check. While songs like "Reign" and especially "Dawn Of A New Age" provide excellent riffing to support the monotone screaming, the ratio of quality songs versus generic drivel is worryingly small. For every good song with a solid riff, there's an anonymous track that suffers from the lack of variety in the vocal department, mostly because the guitars simply cannot carry every track on their own. More charisma in the vein of Sam Carter is desperately needed before Dead Label will be a force to be reckoned with.

As it stands now, "Sense Of Slaughter" isn't terribly bad, it's just too inconsistent to be spoken highly of at this stage. The good news is that the band's guitarists are definitely on the right track, so as soon as their vocalist improves his part even a little bit, we'll have a quality album in our hands. For now, it drowns in the mass of other Architects clones out there simply because it doesn't stick out enough from the crowd.

Download: Reign, Dawn Of A New Age, Self Immolation
For the fans of: Architects, Against The Flood, In Archives, Early Grave
Listen: Facebook

Release date 24.02.2012
Rising Records