Soul Embraced - For The Incomplete
Clenchedfist Records - 2001
By Philip Whitehouse
Visit the Clenchedfist Records website
Visit the Soul Embraced website
Christian death metal.
There, I've said it. All of the anti-religion, all-faithful-are-pussies, small-minded nondescripts have probably now feverishly clicked the 'Back' button on their browser toolbar and gone to re-read that Slayer review, or something.
You see, if you weren't aware, most forms of Christian rock and metal music come with a stigma (haheho) attached to them - people have these incredibly ill-conceived mental images of long-haired leather wearing rockers singing 'Kum By Yah' but adding a killer solo at the end. I used to be one of those people. But now, I have been converted. To the music, that is, not the religion. No, Satan still rules.
But if I was going to convert to Christianity, I wouldn't like to end up sitting next to Soul Embraced on a pew. These guys play some of the most battering melodic death metal it has ever been my pleasure to hear. Citing such influences as Cannibal Corpse, In Flames and Fear Factory, Soul Embraced play fast, hard, and definitely furious. Christians they might be, but don't make the mistake of thinking that makes them happy.
Storming first track 'Unborn' hits the listener with such downbeat lyrical content as 'As I lay here in the darkness of my conscience, my soul empty and bleeding, I wonder how things could have been different'. But this isn't crooned in a Chino-Moreno-come-feel-my-pain kind of way - it's growled in the feral voice of the truly pissed-off. That wonderfully hoarse vocalisation of pain comes from one Chad Moore, while Rocky Gray handles the guitars with aplomb - deploying flesh-searingly corrosive riffs one minute ('My Tourniquet') and then bludgeoning the listener to death with a palm-muted chugging the next ('Screams Unseen') and hanging them all together with little melodic flourshes and really rather impressive solos.
The drumming, too, deserves mention - Lance Garvin seems to have fused Raymond Herrera's mechanically relentless double-bass pounding with some of Danny Carey from Tool's octopus-limbed dexterity. He also has the gift so many death metal drummers seem to lack - the knowledge of when to hang back and let some little snare-taps and hi-hat hits do the talking.
Basically, this is a furious assault on the senses from a band with technical ability, obvious song and melody-writing talent, and a knack for producing incredibly catchy but still really heavy riffs. Go forth and be saved, my sons...
9/10
Clenchedfist Records - 2001
By Philip Whitehouse
Visit the Clenchedfist Records website
Visit the Soul Embraced website
Christian death metal.
There, I've said it. All of the anti-religion, all-faithful-are-pussies, small-minded nondescripts have probably now feverishly clicked the 'Back' button on their browser toolbar and gone to re-read that Slayer review, or something.
You see, if you weren't aware, most forms of Christian rock and metal music come with a stigma (haheho) attached to them - people have these incredibly ill-conceived mental images of long-haired leather wearing rockers singing 'Kum By Yah' but adding a killer solo at the end. I used to be one of those people. But now, I have been converted. To the music, that is, not the religion. No, Satan still rules.
But if I was going to convert to Christianity, I wouldn't like to end up sitting next to Soul Embraced on a pew. These guys play some of the most battering melodic death metal it has ever been my pleasure to hear. Citing such influences as Cannibal Corpse, In Flames and Fear Factory, Soul Embraced play fast, hard, and definitely furious. Christians they might be, but don't make the mistake of thinking that makes them happy.
Storming first track 'Unborn' hits the listener with such downbeat lyrical content as 'As I lay here in the darkness of my conscience, my soul empty and bleeding, I wonder how things could have been different'. But this isn't crooned in a Chino-Moreno-come-feel-my-pain kind of way - it's growled in the feral voice of the truly pissed-off. That wonderfully hoarse vocalisation of pain comes from one Chad Moore, while Rocky Gray handles the guitars with aplomb - deploying flesh-searingly corrosive riffs one minute ('My Tourniquet') and then bludgeoning the listener to death with a palm-muted chugging the next ('Screams Unseen') and hanging them all together with little melodic flourshes and really rather impressive solos.
The drumming, too, deserves mention - Lance Garvin seems to have fused Raymond Herrera's mechanically relentless double-bass pounding with some of Danny Carey from Tool's octopus-limbed dexterity. He also has the gift so many death metal drummers seem to lack - the knowledge of when to hang back and let some little snare-taps and hi-hat hits do the talking.
Basically, this is a furious assault on the senses from a band with technical ability, obvious song and melody-writing talent, and a knack for producing incredibly catchy but still really heavy riffs. Go forth and be saved, my sons...
9/10
