Apoch's Metal Review - Rose Funeral: Gates of Punishment CD Review

Discography	Discography covers all information available up to day of review and is updated if future albums are reviewed.
Full-Length(s):	Crucify.Kill.Rot. (2007) • The Resting Sonata (2009) • Gates of Punishment (2011)
EP(s):	Crucify.Kill.Rot. (2006)
Demo(s):	Buried Beneath the Blood (2006)

Review

Rose Funeral is a band that you love or you hate. From Cincinnati, Ohio, this Brutal Death Metal and Metalcore act came onto the scene with their independent EP Crucify. Kill. Rot., which was eventually turned into a full-length release, inevitably triggering Metal Blade Records' scopes on the band to become part of their artist roster. All of their material came and went with people either for or against them. Despite the cries of praise or hate, Rose Funeral returned to the studio to record their follow-up album, Gates of Punishment, the second for Metal Blade. But, will this effort win any new fans over?

It's safe to say at this point that Rose Funeral has begun catering more to the growing stereotypical concepts of blending Metalcore concepts with Brutal Death Metal. The band does throw in some Melodic Death Metal moments here and there, such as during "False Divine," and even a brief melodic section featuring guest vocalist "Katew Alexander" on the song "Malignant Amour." Honestly, the audio quality and somewhat energetic performance really does make the band stand out a little more then they normally would. The guitars have that crushing Brutal Death Metal feel to them while playing simpler Deathcore chugs along with those often pretty heavy riffs. The bass is pretty loud too and adds to that bludgeoning feeling the guitars give off, accompanied by loud clicking bass kicks, rich snares, and dominant cymbol crashes from the drum kit. Of course vocally it's mostly gutturals this time, which are executed fairly well and end up pretty crisp and understandable, comparable to modern Nile, but not as deep. There are rhaspy higher vocals involved, but they are not used as much this time around. The problem with this lies in the Melodic Death Metal passages that seem to randomly pop up out of nowhere. These sections are far from bad, infact the melody often used is quite catchy, but outside it's random appearance in the song, the distortion and quality of the audio wreaks havoc and makes these passages just sound god aweful from the guitars, being more noise then actual chords being played to make a more pleasant sound.

The album starts out well enough with "Legions of Ruination" setting up the atmosphere of a dark, dank dungeon, or a similar dark area of hopelessness cascaded by a fire burning and mock-church bells ringing before finally kicking into some music half way through. Some of the more melodic chords of the solo that hits are fantastic, and the song itself is pretty good despite what sounds like a few breakdowns lined up after the solo at different speeds and kept to sound more like a regular part of the song before hammering into a very aggressive and intense "Grotesque Indulgence." The track seems to mix together some more "technical" material mixed with some pretty strong Brutal Death Metal chords. The energetic performance keeps this intense track alive until the one note breakdown kicks in. While it's not bad, it's just nothing unique or original, and feels like it takes away from the intense chaos the band has been performing up to and after that point, but some more melodic background atmospheric guitar work ends up saving that part as it created a haunting layer over that breakdown. Of course, what album like this would be complete without an additional breakdown at the end that doesn't really even need to be there?

Sadly this becomes a trend on the album. While much of the music may not be too original, it has a good amount of intensity and energy to back it up with a deep, bludgeoning audio quality to enhance the overall heaviness of it while trying to find ways to shove as many one note breakdowns into the song by and after the half way point while trying to keep them as slow as humanly possible, mostly after the first suiting breakdown. This becomes immediately apparent after the first breakdown in "Beyond the Entombed." While that one isn't too bad, it's forsaken for a much slower and illfitting breakdown to the song that is kept alive much longer then the one that is rather enjoyable and drawn out by throwing a guitar solo over it. In context it works considering the band slows the music down to a keyboard section to build up an atmosphere before hammer in with some more melodic tinged Brutal Death Metal chords that are simply impressive through their fury until they slow down just a little bit to close out the track. Had the group not focused so much on such a long, slow paced breakdown, this would have been a jaw-droppingly intense tracks, especially had they kept the intensity that appears near the end of the song, but it's a developing warning for what's to come, which are lazy breakdowns. "False Divine" goes at a pretty solid pace with faster material that feels heavy and intense, which is suddenly ripped apart by a crawling breakdown that is a few random one notes and drums with plenty of dead air in it.

Even though they do have breakdowns as well, the songs here that do show a little melody to the brutality really stick out. "Arise Infernal" has a short melodic section that actually can be a little moving, giving the song an uplifting feeling before crushing it, and the hopes of not hearing a cheap or forced breakdown almost immediately upon it's completion. Then there's Malignant Armour" showing how the melodic brutality really works for the band, but the chorus featuring guest vocalist Kate Alexander doesn't really work for the overall brutality, as if forcing this into the mix instead of another slow breakdown which happens to show later and, thanks to that one note being played, it sounds pointless and boring, not to mention the chugging chords that appear, and an altered version of that guest singer's spot which sounds god aweful, leaving only the Melodic Brutal Death Metal chords to be the only enjoyable and unique part of the experience of this song, and proof that this is what the band really should be focusing on.

What else is there to possibly say about this effort that hasn't already been said? There really isn't much else you can talk about with the songs except for "Entercism" which breaks the rules of trying to use a breakdown around or after the midway point of a song. Instead, this track hands one right to you at the start, and even though it's yet another slower paced one note breakdown, it's almost refreshing to hear it elsewhere on the song. In fact it actually works to the track's benefit, allowing for a good opening that uses such a breakdown nicely to set the tone. The rest of the track though suffers from the audio issues mentioned before with "Malignant Amour," which is the audio sounding more like noise, thanks largely to the louder bass that comes through and dwarfs the guitars horribly through many parts of the song. This track also shows some strong The Black Dahlia Murder influence, except with a simpler approach to the verses, or at least it comes off that way thanks to the loud bass taking everything over, and sticking more to a rhaspier approach instead of just using gutturals. But really, that about makes up what stands out with the rest of the album. Many of the tracks do feature enough to stand out from one another, but they all fall prey to the same approach and similar chugging chords with pretty much the same note for each one note breakdown.

Gates of Punishment is just such a frustrating album. On the one hand, the band's more Brutal Death Metal and Melodic Death Metal material is fantastic and, if the band just made an album focusing on that with this same audio quality, though perhaps a little modified during the heavily melodic parts, it would be a fantastic release. But then on another, you get the same stereotypical chugging and one note breakdowns that both same to share the same one note that constantly gets played throughout each and every song. Gates of Punishment has a very brutal atmosphere, and where the band shines, they often counter those positives with cheaply generic chugging and forced breakdowns at varying speed that gradually get slower as the album progresses. If you're a die hard Deathcore fan and find plenty of positive elements the more current sound of the style, then this is something that will feed you full of generic concepts until you explode. However, while there's plenty of typical material to go around, this album does have some tracks that feature some reason interesting and promising material from Rose Funeral. It's just sad that the band does not want to seem to capitalize it.

Digital review copy of this release provided by:
Metal Blade Records.

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