Reviews
2006-12-12
A few years back Germany's Deadsoil was said to be a promising hardcore band, founded by ex-members of
Copykill and
Night In Gales and on it's way to success. In this, their third release, they've gotten softer and didn't quite live up to the expectations. More melodic leads and an overall accessible tone (via production and predicable builds) differ "Sacrifice" from Deadsoil's earlier material, and thus make it yet another drop in today's metalcore wave.
Opening out of nowhere with some textbook Swedish melodic death metal in "Unspoken" sure doesn't get them any points – we've all heard
The Haunted,
In Flames and
Soilwork before, and adding some
Hatebreed-like breakdowns is no way near innovative either, and it's a bit of a shame the same line carries in "These Strings" and "Echoes". The heavier "Cross of the great divide" shows some better riffing from well-educated guitarist Jens Basten, with plenty of groove and thrash ruggedness - Thrashers will probably enjoy "Cross Of The Great Divide", "The Day I Die" and "Forget Everything", while new-school death metallers will enjoy the death oriented "Viper", "Ultimate Domination" and "True Belief"; those of you looking for a wink or two to oldschool will find the acoustic "Remembrance" similar to the some old & mellow acoustic
At The Gates tracks, and will rejoice with the riffing in "Sacrificed".
"Sacrifice" is an album that would have been great if only it were released a few years ago – one way or another, It's a solid piece; Deadsoil didn't fulfill the expectations but managed to differentiate themselves from other current metalcore acts by at least making an album where you can actually tell the difference between songs, and headband while you're at it.
Ofer Vayner
