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Sons Of Azrael: Scouting The Boneyard Melodic Death Metal Metal Blade Records January 19th, 2010
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Review
Sons Of Azrael is four piece Melodic Death Metal band from Buffalo, New York that originally formed back in 2004. Since then, the band had put out four demo recordings before finally being signed in 2007 to put out their debut album. After three years, the band has returned with their follow up release, Scouting The Boneyard. This all sounds well and good, right? Well, yeah, but the problem is that nobody even knew that this band was signed in the first place. Tack on that their debut album, The Conjuration Of Vengeance, as well as this release have received many mixed reviews, many of which really seem to be short on details, it's no wonder this band is rising high in the world of obscurity. So, the question remains: Is Scouting The Boneyard actually a good release? Sons Of Azrael is not that bad a band, but at the same time there is a good amount of issues with the release that will leave the listener wanting more. It's clear the the band tries very hard to emulate the older Melodic Death Metal sounds, especially when the album kicks off and sounds like they ripped a play straight from the book of late-era Carcass. The production on here seems a bit off too, but isn't anything too bad that will hinder the listener from enjoying the release. Scouting The Boneyard is also teaming with tracks that emit varied enjoyment levels, but shockingly, not too many are rather bland, with the exception of the very irritating "Howl of the Antichrist" interlude which does nothing but come off as a more technical (computer-wise, not musical structure-wise) version of the band trying their hand at ambience to bleed into the phenomenally intense track "Touched by God". There are some really well done tracks, much like the first track "Welcome to the World" with it's catchy Melodic sound and blunt lyrics against God, as well as the rather fast paced track "A Numbing Flood". There's actually plenty of songs on here that are enjoyable, but not quite as memorable as those two, such as "Aron & Apathy". However, there are just some that simply are not that great for one reason or another. Take "The Grand Design" for example. Musically the track is alright, but it just leaves you wanting more, especially with the lyrics being so bland and amateurish, clearly showing the band is trying to be brutal with their melodic selves, but simply creating "stories" in ways that a fourth grader would come up with. "The Left Hand Path" is another prime example of this, not because the music on it is bad. Quite the opposite actually. The music on here is very well done, coming off as a rather punishing track at a slower pace. The vocals on this track, as well as some others, are what really kill it and make the track come off as simply boring and forgetable due to a lack of emphasis. Think old school Immortal's Abbath pulling vocal duties. Sadly, it does not work with the music being played here. Scouting The Boneyard has some good songs, there's no denying that. The guitars on here, while often rather generic, are pretty well performed, though they could have done with a little bit of a deeper distortion. The drums on this release, however, are absolutely phenomenal and really make the release stand out, along with the random early Death Metal guitar solos that compliment them nicely. The main drawback to the release is simply the vocalist. If vocalist Joe Siracuse would concentrate moreso on his gutterals for the release, as well as the band creating more solid and intense tracks like the closers "Touched by God" and "Frozen in Time, as well as "Welcome to the World" and "A Numbing Flood", throwing in some of the Immortal carbon copy vocal stylings in the background, and some better lyrics, then this album would be intense except for "The Grand Design" and "Howl of the Antichrist", as there really is no saving these tracks. Basically, if the band focused on bringing more Death Metal to the mix then early Melodic Death, which is already present in some of the heavier tracks, then Sons Of Azrael would be one hell of an excellent band. Until then, this release simply shows the potential that the band has to create a brutal, if somewhat childish, Metal album. With some intense music and solos, and great gutteral vocals, it's only a matter of focusing on further solidifying the band's sound and stepping away from the already established and well known acts of the early Melodic Death Metal sound that this band clearly wishes they could be.
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