This is a review of a split album between Oakland's Alaric and Portland's Atriarch which was released in 2012 by 20 Buck Spin and we will start of the review with Alaric which plays death rock with a crustcore edge.
Drums range from slow to mid paced drumming with nothing in the way of fast playing or blast beats, while the synths bring a very dark, gothic and atmospheric sound to the music, as for the bass playing it has a very strong and powerful tone with gothic/death rock riffing that dominates throughout the recording.
Rhythm guitars range from slow to mid paced gothic/death rock riffs with some influences from crustcore, punk rock and new wave, while the lead guitars are very dark sounding dream pop/gothic rock guitar solos and leads.
Vocals are all clean singing vocals, while the lyrics cover dark and emotional themes, as for the production it has a very dark and powerful sound where you can hear all of the musical instruments that are present on this recording.
In my opinion Alaric are a very good sounding death rock band and while this is not material that usually gets covered in my zine, I s till feel that they are very good at what they do and if you are a fan of this style, you should check out this band. RECOMMENDED TRACK "So Far Down". RECOMMENDED.
Next up is Atriarch a band that mixes death rock with black metal, sludge and doom metal.
Drums range from slow to mid paced playing with some fast drumming and blast beats, while the bass playing has a very strong and powerful tone with gothic/doom metal riffs that dominate throughout the recording, as for the synths when they are utilized they bring a very dark and avant garde edge to the music.
Rhythm guitars are all slow, mid paced to fast riffs that combine black, doom, sludge and gothic rock together with the last song being very long, while the lead guitars are very primitive sounding doom metal guitar solos and leads.
Vocals range from clean singing, aggressive vocals, deep death metal growls, high pitched black metal screams and spoken word parts, while the lyrics cover dark and desolate themes, as for the production it has a very dark and heavy sound to it.
In my opinion Atriarch are a very great sounding death rock/black/sludge/doom metal hybrid with the best music on this split and if you are a fan of this style, you should check out this band. RECOMMENDED TRACK "Offerings". RECOMMENDED.
In my opinion this is a very great sounding split and if you are into gothic rock, crust, sludge, black and doom metal, you should add this album to your collection. RECOMMENDED BUY.
