Tuesday, May 18, 2010

Afterlife - Surreality (1992)

This band is like Cannibal Corpse without the prevalent repetition and lack of distinction between the songs. That’s the first thing that came to my mind when I heard this album. The low brutal growls are there, but the repetition is not. The fact that the instruments are distinct throughout the album is one of the characteristics that distinguish this band from Cannibal Corpse. The guitar solos are widespread throughout the album and add variety to the songs, as opposed to the same drilling and boring underground Death Metal sound. Some of the songs have a slower almost Doom Metal trait to them. Each song has a certain monotonous vocal sound to it and a melodious instrumental sound which works well with the vocals and creates a somewhat idiosyncratic atmosphere. Variety is much appreciated in Death Metal and especially this kind of Death Metal, which can almost be called Brutal at times. Surreality is a decent album for those Death Metal heads that are tired with the repetitious sounding music of certain bands. Although it is repetitious to an extent, it’s no Cannibal Corpse.