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An album full of unrecognized talent and growing pains.-
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| World Under Blood: Tactical |
Melodic Death Metal
Nuclear Blast Records
July 26th, 2011
- A God Among the Waste - 4:14
- Into the Arms of Bruelty - 4:39
- Pyro-Compulsive - 4:44
- Dead and Still in Pain - 4:13
- Purgatory Dormitory - 3:23
- Under the Autumn Low - 4:04
- I Can't Stand His Name - 3:05
- Revere's Tears - 4:45
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| Review Information |
Release length: 33:10
Review posted on July 27th, 2011
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| | Overall Score: 6/10 |
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| Discography |
Discography covers all information available up to day of review and is updated if future albums are reviewed. |
| Full-Length(s): |
Tactical (2011)
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| Review |
It's not very often that I sit back and stare at a promo in the inbox and immediately not want to review it, but at the same time really want to. World Under Blood is one of those bands, and it's simply due to the line-up. With the press release focusing a good deal of attention to Deron Miller, guitarist and vocalist of the group being of CKY fame, I immediately became a bit skeptical as I'm really not a fan of that band in any sense. However, after seeing the rest of the line-up including Tim Yeung on drums (Divine Heresy and Decrepit Birth), Risha Eryavec (also of the same fame as Tim Yeung), and Luke Jaeger (formerly of Vile), suffice it to say my curiosity was peaked. Does this new California based Melodic Death Metal band have what it takes to really make an impact with their debut full-length, Tactical?
The production quality to the album feels a little muffled, and not really in a raw sense. Sadly this seems to hold the guitars back a bit. It's clear that they have a good distortion to them, and sound like they could have been rather sharp to the mix, but instead feel blunt and not really that heavy. The bass is present and makes a good contribution to the recording, though not too loud, again due to the muffled quality. The drums are also well done, the cymbols are pretty clear, the snares sound good, and the bass kicks a decent click, though more on the thud side of things. Of the drum performance, these seem to be the main focus, though there's a good amount of fills and not a huge fixation on constant cymbols from start to finish, offering up a good amount of variety to the recording in that aspect. The guitars also lend to the variety, always having a melodic to the music, but will often transition from one approach to another, but not necessarily in a Progressive Metal stance since it does keep to the main flow of the song that is established at the start. The vocals aren't too bad, but the clean singing just comes off a bit weak at times, being too soft against some of the heavier tracks, and the gutturals are alright but really nothing too amazing, they just seem to be there and add to the variety of the recording in a positive manner. But the odd thing of this is that as you progress through Tactical, it actually starts to sound like the quality improves.
"A God Among the Waste" really isn't the most spectacular of songs, and it highlights the faults of the production too well due to it's more slower pace and softer approach. The song itself is just not all that great either, and while it doesn't sound amateurish and does have a bit of a unique vibe to it, the track just seems to go off in various directions and focuses more on the melodic aspect of the sound then actually having a rich heavier approach, coming off more as filler then anything too solid, especially to start the album off with. However, "Into the Arms of Cruelty" picks up the pace and has a stronger, richer sound due to the track being a little faster, and the instruments filling the emptier aspect of the sound that "A God Among the Waste" left from the more muffled approach. The song again doesn't come off as anything too jaw-dropping, but it's still a good song with an equal amount of melody mixed in with some rich intensity. The first guitar solo to the track works, though the second to close the song off with sounds much better and more appropriate, the blast beat driven passages of the song fill things up nicely, and vocally it just sounds stronger, leaving to a more solid experience.
From here, the band really seems to grasp onto the intensity, and the gutturals seem to get better with each track, coming off a little more like a deep growl mixed with some shouting. The clean singing still remains that soft and soothing approach, but when coupled with the more energetic vocals and richer music, they work out great and the material just becomes more solid and less amateurish and awkward, as if it's the first time these giants ever played a song and the album shows the confidence rise with each following track, finding the band less inclined to hold back from really unleashing their full potential. "Purgatory Dormitory" is one of the better tracks, and again up to this point it seems like the band is still continuing to let loose with their sound and not really be as restrained. The song has a great amount of intensity to it, and even some uplifting, somewhat epic-sound chords going off in the background of the song the beef the track up a little more in richness. These heavier, much more solid tracks also seem to work with the production quality of the release instead of against it like "A God Among the Waste" up to "Pyro-Compulsive" show. The energetic performance allows the music to feel tighter, and the more intense sound masks some of it's faults to give a cleaner sense. This point is proven well with "Under the Autumn Low", which feels like the pinnacle of the band's performance on the album through fast paced intense Melodic Death Metal that really has a much richer sound with stronger vocal performances of the guttural and even clean singing that make a very moving chorus against a chaotic and brutal sounding atmosphere from the music that surrounds these more passionate chorus performances. The guitar solo to this track also shows some growth and really has a strong Heavy Metal-type of presence to them while capturing an All That Remains circa-The Fall of Ideals era or even mid-career Soilwork.
The album closes with the song Revere's Tears, and it'll leave the listener with mixed emotions. While this is perhaps the most solid and intense track of the recording, often going more into an Impious style Melodic Death Metal then anything, the song features plenty of explosive moments of brutality with more serious melodic passages the feel rather commanding. However, this all hits later in the song, when the material really picks up and carried the intensity shown on the four previous tracks. Instead, this one starts off with a very long acoustic introduction to introduce the start of the track. While it does establish an atmosphere that works for the song, it's performed way too long and seems to take forever before the song actually kicks in, leaving it to be a rather short, though undeniably sweet and brutal closing to the release. In one hand you'll loathe the start and the wait you need to go through to get it to it, but in the end you'll love the more abrasive and serious Melodic Death Metal sound given, though the short length of the track ends up leaving you feeling like there should have been more to the song.
Tactical isn't too bad an album, but for it being a "supergroup" effort, that statement comes to be all too common and just as depressing. There's nothing all that awe-inspiring to the release, though some of the later tracks really sound strong and intense. The album gets off to a rough start, and progressing through it from the start is like watching World Under Blood go through the same kind of growing pains a child would have. The potential for the band to really be a driving force in the Melodic Death Metal world is there, but it really goes unrecognized at times, and during the slower and more open tracks the audio quality of the release doesn't really help out either. There's really only a handful of songs on here that are well worth paying attention to, while the others are just alright and could be passed up. World Under Blood is clearly an act that should not have been signed right now, instead allowed to mature and grow a little more before issuing this release. And, with the right kind of nurturing and focus from it's members, World Under Blood could be a band that puts out some solid Melodic Death Metal albums. But, for now, Tactical shows promise, though just feels really held back and awkward at times.
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Digital review copy of this release provided by:
Nuclear Blast Records.
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