All Shall Perish "The Price of Existence" (Nuclear Blast)
By Taylor Green
Wednesday. Oct 18, 12:37 AM
Deathgrind savagery overshadowed by uninspired metalcore.

Hate. Malice. Revenge was one of those albums that took you by the balls and never let go. Its vicious new wave deathgrind guitar riffs and multi-layered vocals turned All Shall Perish into one of the few newcomers worth watching in the metal scene. A unique spin on the tired and true staples of death metal – with a pinch of hardcore – was exactly what the doctor ordered for livening up the scene. Hate. Malice. Revenge was so good, in fact, that Nuclear Blast chose to re-release the album rather than have the band record new material for their Nuclear Blast debut. After listening to The Price of Existence, Nuke made a sage decision.

The Price of Existence begins with a sharp guitar riff, some pounding drums, and a much more predictable interface than the band's previous album. The riff evolves with some great vocal stylings, but slowly falters as the growing tragedy kicks in: the overuse of metalcore gimmicks such as yelled background vocals and cliché breakdown patterns. As a whole, The Price of Existence seems like a stronger effort than Hate. Malice. Revenge, showing a definite focus that came between the releases of the first album and being signed and becoming full time musicians… however, the deathgrind savagery of Hate. Malice. Revenge is now overshadowed by the uninspired metalcore takeover that haunts the soul of the album.

For metalcore fans who don't need every chorus to be sung by a 12 year-old girl, All Shall Perish will offer some of the most riveting and original material to grace your ears since Killswitch Engage's Alive or Just Breathing. Tracks like "Slave Wage" and "There is No Businesss to Be Done on a Dead Planet" pop out of the speakers with a rage unparalleled within the genre, coming off as heavy as The Dillinger Escape Plan or Napalm Death. But the unique stylings of All Shall Perish's previous work gets lost in the fray and the album as a whole becomes restrained by the characteristics of the genre, making The Price of Existence more of a metalcore album than an All Shall Perish album. It seems like the band has changed, and not for the best.
www.allshallperish.com
www.nuclearblastusa.com

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Taylor Green

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