The Resting Sonata

When I first discovered Rose Funeral, my interest was diminished quickly when put up against other Ohio deathcore acts. Salt the Wound to name one especially. Picking up on this album again after a couple years, it suddenly grew on me. I was surprised how this band gracefully plays their stuff without hesitation or relying on breakdowns like most deathcore bands would usually settle for as they clone off another Black Dahlia Murder riff. I will admit, some of the melodic-esque solos are very The Black Dahlia Murder-esque on this album, but everything else sounds almost original and clean. Skullcrushing breakdowns, amazing blast beat drumming and heartpounding vocals.

The vocalist debate for Rose Funeral is always in constant discussion of which one fans prefer the most. For me, I don't care so much about vocals so be it I can just straight away admit that Destin Armstrong (the vocalist on the band's album previous to this one entitled Crucify.Kill.Rot.) could have sang on this record and it would easily make nearly no difference to me. However, there's something about Tim Russel's mannerisms and youthful angst that make this album a lot more fun. His abrasive god-bashing one-liners and almost poetic approach to themes that revolve around murder and gore make it interesting. Let alone his fry screamed screeches are surprisingly understandable straight from the stereo without the need of reading the lyrics.

Andrew Horton's drum performance sounds a lot more real and natural than the drumming that was performed on Crucify.Kill.Rot.. Horton is no god of the blast beat, but I can't help but just praise what he does here since the band's constant tempo changes usually let some drumming techniques come off awkward to the listener at times. This is over-ruled as Horton always finds something new to do over each breakdown than just clashing on the symbols or pounding at his his snare during tremolo riffs.

Many people proclaim Rose Funeral's proceeding album Gates of Punishment as their alltime best work, but for me, it's all about this record. The songs on here are just way too much fun.

The Resting Sonata, Which is the second album from the deathcore outfit Rose Funeral, was released January 20th 2009. This Album has received various reviews and criticism because of their release on Metal Blade Records. This band and album have gotten some very negative reaction because their deathcore sound, because of this people developed biases and reviewed this album unfairly. Now I will provide a fair review for people who are deathcore fans or just open minded metal listeners. Here yah Go!

The Resting Sonata is a Good album. Rose Funeral Manages to create a very dark atmosphere when playing music, they invoke death metal style guitar riffing but also include crushing breakdowns. Guitar-wise the playing is decent, Ryan and Jesse include death metal riffing with brutal breakdowns but also incorporate melodic style of guitar in their solos. The solos and melodic riffing contributes to the eery atmosphere of the album. The bass in the album is deep and low, you have to listen for it but when you hear it, it's heavy as fuck. My Only complaint is I wish the bass was increased in the mix because you can barely hear it. The Drumming apposed to their previous full length, Crucify.Kill.Rot., is real. Real meaning that the drums sound very natural, the only triggered thing on the kit is the bass drum. Drumming includes the standard Blast beats, thrash beats and breakdowns, I really Liked the drumming in this album though. Dusty has such a creative and fluid drumming style, certain songs that really show his drumming style are Sodomizer and Embalming The Masses. The Vocals in this album are awesome, the highs are reminiscent to a black metal style( Which I Love) and the lows are brutal. In One song, Tim does a similar heathen power metal yell reminiscent to Angel of Death of Slayer.

The album starts out with a pulse with flies and kicks the atmosphere off, the pulse goes dead and Sodomizer comes in. This Song starts out with a creative kill by Dusty and Tim's death growls, the death metal guitar riffs spark a "headbang" moment, Followed by a breakdown with melodic guitar in the background. The song continues with death metal guitar riffs and blast beats. God Demise starts off with a crushing breakdown, this breakdown makes me want to kill babies. After the breakdown it follows with a melodic death metal riff and pushes the song, this song is one of the more melodic songs on the album. Remain in Dirt has a very good build-up to a brutal slam thanks to Dusty with his marching band snare fill ins, this song has a very good death metal type sound. Left to Rot is one of my favourites, it starts off blast beating with the creative bell work in the fills. This Song has the most brutal breakdowns at the end, listen to it. The Title track, The Resting Sonata is beautiful. It starts out a wonderful symphonic arrangement, then mood quickly changes to a dark eery breakdown massacre. Redeemer of Flesh is one of the most death metal songs on the album, chopped fill of death metal and melodic guitar work and thrash beats. Created to Kill is Dusty's finest work on the album, his blasts and thrash beats are clean and wonderfully brutal and really push the songs atmosphere. Embalming the Masses has a catchy beginning, a snare count and then breakdown blast beat. The solo on this song is my favourite, it has a very good shred value. Buried Beneath has a very good drum fill at the start which captivated me to listen, this song is fast and a great song live. Dawning the Resurrection: Verse Il is the final song and this song includes the Slayer type yell that is badass, Lots of good breakdowns especially the final one. Its One to remember.

The Resting Sonata to a deathcore fan, is a brutal musical masterpiece. To someone who is a death metal connoisseur, it's boring and generic deathcore. But I found that the album is great and I would call one of my favourite deathcore albums. So if you want to experience brutal ass deathcore with lots of death metal influences.... CHECK THIS ALBUM OUT.

Will the day come when the single-note breakdown breaks down? Those of you who just read that sentence know already that I’m talking about metalcore, and more specifically deathcore.

Whenever I listened to “The Resting Sonata” I had to stop several times to take a break if there was a breakdown. To put it bluntly, there’s not a lot of room to work with a single-note breakdown, and nor is the breakdown the be-all or end-all to a song, or crowd involvement. Unlike other styles of music, or for that matter, unlike other parts of songs, the single-note breakdown can often be very one-dimensional, and every time I hear another one on this album, they only become weaker and more irrelevant.

The rest of the music, which seems to occupy the other half of the album not occupied by breakdowns is just a xerox copy of your standard deathcore band. Tremolo picked riffs supported by way too many Smith blasts, faux death growls accented by The Black Dahlia Murder styled rasps or brought together in harsh harmonies.

“The Resting Sonata” is a lifeless, emotionless shell. The lacking of any content with depth only gets hammered in further when its time for yet another single-note breakdown to jackhammer my resolve. Simply another deathcore album to throw on top of the pile with the rest of the faceless clones.

Originally posted at www.waytooloud.com