Review Summary: A precision guided war of metal fury and burly breakdowns. Like a thrashy cryptopsy for fans of Katakylsm.
You’re all going to die. You’re all going to die. You’re all going to die....
So begins the first track from Man Must Die's first album, Start killing. A fitting intro to an album chockfull of blasting, aggression, and topped off by a plethora of sick and varied riffing. Sounding similar to mid era Whisper Supremacy Cryptopsy mixed with Katakylsm and maybe Neuraxis. The intensity throughout grabs you and rarely relents, but thankfully the riffing is many times thrashy and melo-death like which adds to the replay value by giving you something to headbang to.
The vocalist utilizes powerful screamed vocals, with throaty gutturals and a deep aggressive hardcore bark. There is sometimes a deathcore esque dual vocals going on but it fits well when done. He switches his vocals up a lot on every song, utilizing each style in different sections.
The drummer does a lot of fast blasting for most of the album but he really works well with the guitars to keep the music intense fist pumping badass metal. It could be argued that these guys are none too original because they don't do anything new. However they are very adept at fusing their influences into something greater than the sum of their parts.
What this means that instead of potentially sounding like deathcore with its love of blasting, breakdowns, and br00t vocals, you get something that ends up like old school melo-death meets new school brutality in a way that surprisingly sounds fresh and interesting.
For a first time listen you may think it all sounds the same as songs usually work in a similar way: blasting with vocals, switch to a different riff and or part of the song, and throw a breakdown in their somewhere. If it weren't for the quality of the riffs and intensity of the vocal performance I wouldn’t be nearly that impressed with this album. Also the tracks severe facial reconstruction and eradicate the weak both start in the exact same way but quickly split off in different riffs after the first 10 sec or so. The bass is audible but a bit lower in the mix throughout the album, which is a big plus and largely plays along with the guitars riffs but does deviate at points lovers of bass in metal will enjoy. Really adds more punch to the album, especially the breakdowns, which occur on most tracks and range from good to great. But more than anything I feel work to break up the intensity as this album is all about stop start speedy madness.
I implore you to not headbang or mentally conjure up thoughts of arson and moshpits full of old people ready to feel the wrath of man must die upon their fake knees and hips while listening to this album. Consider it what the unknown king should have been, extreme metal sound with added deathcore influenced breakdowns, except with tighter songwriting, no singing, and better vocals! I should note however that this album is from 2004 so it pre-dates deathcore largely while still sounding like it would get a good reception from that audience of metal lovers.
Tracks I recommend: Indulge in Genocide, All Shall Perish, Severe Facial Reconstruction, War on Creation
