Review Summary: Pantera meets death metal.
Southern Front is a little known death/groove metal band hailing from Austin Texas. There sound lies somewhere between the southern groove inflected vocals of bands like Lamb of God and Pantera and the heavy chugs and technical riffs of most modern tech death bands. There's sweet shreds and chugs galore, and I mean the good chugs, the ones that pump you up with waves of anger and energy. "Death Throes" takes on the listener with commanding force, with a sort of punkish "*** you" attitude that groove metal is well known for.
All of the instruments here are well executed. The bass is thick and heavy, the guitar riffs thrash and bash without holding back, and the drums are constantly pummeling, even if their simplicity gets just mildly boring sometimes. Tracks like "Burned Awake" and "Face Down" are equally as vibrant as they are pissed off, trading off murky groove-laden riffs for pristine technical soloing. Beneath all of this is a constantly distinguishable bass that's got this turbid, almost watery tone to it. The musicianship here is tight as hell, making for a fluid, cohesive listen.
The most mild qualms one might have about this record is that the production is slightly dry. It helps make for a really clean tone during the solos, but otherwise it seems barely present at all. The album probably could've benefited from a slightly darker production, but I digress. The other qualm is one that's more of personal taste. The punk like vibes "Southern Front" gives off can come across as moderately douchey to some people, and it's really all dependent on whether you like this style of music or not.
Southern Front is far from rewriting the styling of groove metal, however there is just enough other influences thrown in to make it distinguishable. There is the thrash and bash from big thrash giants like Metallica and Anthrax, the in-your-face raspy growls of vocalists like Randy Blythe (Lamb of God), and technical soloing from tech death in the vein of bands like Allegaeon. This album might sound far too derivative of its influences, and perhaps it is. However, the way Southern Front meshes together these styles for something cohesive that rocks hard is impressive. So take a seat and prepare yourself for a rowdy southern-style imbued metal record.
