Requiem of Flame

I did a little shopping on Razorback Records and bought this album because it was cheap, the band is from Cleveland, Ohio, and nobody had reviewed this yet.


This is one of the shorter albums I've heard clocking in at only 30:13 and for the most part is a fairly decent, consistant death metal album. By that I mean there aren't too many tracks that stand out,but there's no real bullshit on this album like intro/outro tracks, or movie quotes that are lame. No time is wasted in getting to the point. Once "bedlam rains" starts the next 20 minutes of music don't stop. 100% balls to the wall, but I do find some songs to sound the same. For instance, the intro to "descend" and "hate for your blood" sound very similar. In fact there are only 2 tracks that stand out amongst the other 6; "Descend" and "alone as you die". "Descend" is the lone instrument here and leaves the instruments to their moment from behind the curtains. Yes that's right, the best riffs on this album are from an instrumental. "Alone as you die", is the only track that features clean(non-distorted), minor-key, guitar passages. Too bad because only the first 1:07 is like this. Descend should have expanded more on this aspect because it contrasts the heavier stuff and diversifies the album more. Both these songs are better in overall quality and I consider them highlights of the album. I'm not a real drummer, but I do like the drumming on here because it adds something to the music. However, they can be choppy at times, disrupting the groove. Everything blends together well forming one cohesive unit. As for the other instruments: the guitars and bass are pretty good offering some soloing and plenty of standard death metal riffs. The vocals on Requien of Flame are very gutteral and not easily understood but then again death metal can be like that. Let me they leave something to be desired. I'll continue to watch this band because I have a feeling they can do better and have some developing to do.