- - -

BLOODSHOTEYE :
DEMO

"Wow". I was thinking of leaving you with that one word as my review, but then I thought, this band deserves much more than my lame attempt to be amusing or cool. This is one of those CDs that's like a gift from the Rock Gods. I had no idea it was coming, I hadn't heard of the band, and I had no expectations when I went to play it. So, I put this in the 'ol car stereo on the way to work, the first song starts off with a nice little low-key intro, and then my fuckin' head gets ripped off with an onslaught of some of the best Death-Metal I've come across in a long time. Some might argue that this has Grind-Core parts, and should be in some other little sub genre, but I'm going to go with Death-Metal. I don't know where to start, so lets begin with a little band info; For starters, although some of the band has been playing together for 6 years, the band as a solid unit, has only been together since July 2002, and this was recorded in Dec. 2002, so you can see that this isn't the type of band to sit around on their asses. The group calls the bustling metropolis of Leamington, Ontario Canada home, and uses the unusual (in Death-Metal anyway) two-vocalist attack. We have Mark Arruda, and JeSICKa on the mic. Now, I know what your thinking, you think they have a chick to do clean vocal parts like all those Goth & Black-Metal acts, like Theater Of Tragedy or Cradle Of Filth. Nope, you're wrong, they both do blood curdling Death screams, the kind that could wake the dead faster than reading from the Necronomicon. Now, let's examine the 3 songs on this demo. Without going into too much detail, they are all brutally savage, intensely heavy, pounding, and best of all, full of variation. Now, I also have to mention the sound on this disc. This was recorded at Spectre Sounds in Windsor Ontario. Now, I don't know if it was the studio, the mixing, or just dumb luck, but the sound on this demo is awesome! The bottom end comes through so thick and juicy, it's almost unheard of. The drums on this disc just sound so big, and so meaty... something that is often missing in today's world of digital recording. A word of advice to the band; when you go to record your full-length CD, don't let some other producer fuck with this sound. These tracks should not be altered in any way, shape, or form. For more info on this young Death-Metal force, check 'em out on line here.
RATING = 8 Death-Metal (Released 2002)

- - -

BLOODSHOTEYE :
WITHOUT ANY REMORSE

Canada's Bloodshoteye have finally managed to spew forth their first full-length effort. Is it good? Yes. Is it the masterpiece I was personally expecting and hoping for? No. Now let me explain why... I reviewed the band's demo about a year ago, and was thoroughly impressed with what I heard. They had a dual male / female vocal attack that was heavy on the old-school Death-Metal guttural tones. Plus, they had this ultra-thick, sort of Lo-Fi sound going on that really added some depth, and street cred to the overall sound. The one thing I told the band not to do when going forward with a full album, was alter that sound in any way, but that's exactly what they went and did. Now granted, the sound they want, and the sound I want are two very different things (and what I want doesn't really matter, well, I guess it does for this review). You see, on the demo, the band was coming across as being more in line with the original old-school Death-Metal scene of the late 80s / early 90s. Sure, they were employing a lot of modern jarring start/stop combos, time changes etc., but the vocals and the deep rumbling sound was more reminiscent of early Obituary than say Killswitch Engage, or anything recently "Pro-tooled". However, on the new disc, the Death-Metal vibe of old has officially crossed over to the modern Metalcore vibe of today. Even though they recoded this disc at the same studio as they recorded the demo, the sound has been altered a lot. To be fair, I'll admit, most people will say it has improved. Things are clearer, sharper, etc. However, it's almost too clear, it sounds like the production one might find on one of the later Fear Factory CDs. Now granted, that's a decent sound, but not what I was hoping for from this band. The two-pronged vocal attack is also no more, it looks like Mark has left the band, leaving Jesicka with full vocal duties. Vocals are still heavy as hell, but a lot of the deep, guttural tones I loved so much, have been replaced with harsh, modern-sounding screams. The end result, is that even though the disc is pretty damn good, I wanted something different. It ends up sounding like a million other CDs that are coming out right now, whereas I guess I wanted it to sound like a million other CDs that came out 15 years ago. Oh well. As a note of interest, there are some guest vocals on two tracks from Randy Blythe of "Lamb of God" fame. If you dig the heavier Metalcore stuff, this'll make you jump as easily as anything else, but I will personally go back to the demo for my periodic fix of Bloodshoteye, and dream of what might have been.
RATING = 7 Metalcore (Released 2004)

- - -

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U/V W-Z

SOUNDTRACKS TRIBUTES COMPILATIONS

GOT A PROBLEM WITH ONE OF MY CD REVIEWS?
DO YOU AGREE WITH ME?
THEN GO TO THE

- - -

"Greatest hits albums are for housewives and little girls."
 -Bruce McCulloch K.I.T.H. '91

Sign Guestbook View Guestbook
Old Guest Book

HOME

IF YOU THINK MY CD REVIEWS SUCK, CLICK HERE!

urotsukidoji_1@yahoo.com

This page hosted by GeoCities Get your own Free Home Page