Echoes of the Fallen

Personnel: Luke Davies (vocals); Leon Kemp (guitar); Steven Nixon (guitars); James Cook (drums).
Audio Mixer: Scott Atkins.
Illustrator: Richey Beckett.
Arranger: Scott Atkins.
Anterior should be drawn and quartered over their befuddling moniker alone, but since it's far too late to go back and alter that now, one supposes that a fair and balanced review of their musical merits alone is probably in order. Bah humbug! Fact is, this British ensemble packs all of the right melodic death metal stunts into this, their second album for Metal Blade. Standout cuts like "Blood in the Throne Room," "The Evangelist," and "Venomous" display buckets of confidence and buttloads of musical ability, while pretty much nailing that tenuous balance between brutality and grace, instrumental precision and primal rage required of this style. Yet they also lack that all-important "it" factor (or even the more commercial hooks of, say, a Trivium) to truly distinguish Anterior from the competition, and if these can't get the job done, then what of the less impressive tracks on hand? A brief interlude built of synthetic strings and majestic guitars named "Echoes of the Fallen" is the only remote deviation from form, but blink and you'll miss it...heck, you may miss it with eyes wide open. But, all things considered, if solid, no-frills melo-death-thrash execution within a familiar sonic framework sounds enticing, then one could do a lot worse than Anterior. Now about that band name again.... ~ Eduardo Rivadavia