Sweeping and tapping seem to be all the rage these days. If your band can’t sweep and tap fluidly into a tremolo picking section then you’re just not going anywhere, in the metal scene that is. Knights Of The Abyss take all of the above very seriously as evidenced by their third release, The Culling Of The Wolves. These guys play deathcore. Complete with all the stereotypes about the genre and then some.
The music on this release isn’t bad, however it is highly derivative. Lots of tapping and sweeping sections are present, along with the dreaded or beloved breakdown, depending on which camp you’re in.
As I said, the music isn’t bad but the fact that it sounds a lot like other bands makes it not that unique and subsequently hard to remember. After about the third song the music becomes a homogenous mixture of notes that isn’t too engaging.
One saving grace is that they do not abuse the breakdown like many bands (Emmure I’m looking at you) and they do attempt melodies to set themselves apart from the pack.
“Caveat Emptor” is definitely befitting of this band, if you’re going to check them out do so at your own risk, it is deathcore, it is not original but its not all that bad either. The problem that this band has is the same one that plagues just about every other deathcore band out there; it’s all been done before.
In A Word: Insipid
