Everfailed
Biological Order
2010
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Most people, when judging a musician, look at two things: the musician's level of technical skill, and the musician's "feel" for the music. Being a musician myself, I find both to be important, and it is always a pleasant surprise to find a band in which a high level of technicality meets a good feel for music and, more importantly, the self-control to use one's technical skill for the sake of the music, rather than for its own sake. Everfailed, a death metal band hailing from the Greek island of Crete, is one such band.
On their demo, entitled "Biological Order," the members of Everfailed are able to bring together their progressive and technical tendencies into four short, intense, and musically brilliant burst of fury, intertwining drums, bass, synth, and guitar into a multilayered but nonetheless coherent unit. The music flows remarkably well given the fact that this is their first recording, and it becomes clear that the members of Everfailed possess not only technical skill, but expressiveness. Don't worry; this is still very hard-hitting death metal, but as with any good musicians, the guys from Everfailed are able to channel a fair amount of emotion through their instruments. The music is highly technical and aggressive, but there is more to it than technicality and aggression.
With all this talk about Everfailed being "expressive," then, it is rather ironic that the vocals are the least expressive aspect of the band; in fact, the vocal performance is the only real flaw here. This is a very technically impressive performance, but the vocals don't add to the music to the same degree that the instruments do. To go with an earlier theme, it seems that the instruments work together to form a single unit, but the vocals are outside of this unit. The vocal performance on "Biological Order," however good it may be, is suited for a more traditional technical death metal album, and seems to disrupt Everfailed's sense of fluidity.
All in all, Everfailed is a very promising group. They play music that is both technical and intensely heavy without sacrificing songwriting or overstaying their welcome, and with some work on the vocals they have the potential to become great.
On their demo, entitled "Biological Order," the members of Everfailed are able to bring together their progressive and technical tendencies into four short, intense, and musically brilliant burst of fury, intertwining drums, bass, synth, and guitar into a multilayered but nonetheless coherent unit. The music flows remarkably well given the fact that this is their first recording, and it becomes clear that the members of Everfailed possess not only technical skill, but expressiveness. Don't worry; this is still very hard-hitting death metal, but as with any good musicians, the guys from Everfailed are able to channel a fair amount of emotion through their instruments. The music is highly technical and aggressive, but there is more to it than technicality and aggression.
With all this talk about Everfailed being "expressive," then, it is rather ironic that the vocals are the least expressive aspect of the band; in fact, the vocal performance is the only real flaw here. This is a very technically impressive performance, but the vocals don't add to the music to the same degree that the instruments do. To go with an earlier theme, it seems that the instruments work together to form a single unit, but the vocals are outside of this unit. The vocal performance on "Biological Order," however good it may be, is suited for a more traditional technical death metal album, and seems to disrupt Everfailed's sense of fluidity.
All in all, Everfailed is a very promising group. They play music that is both technical and intensely heavy without sacrificing songwriting or overstaying their welcome, and with some work on the vocals they have the potential to become great.
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Morpheus's Rating: 3.5/5
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