If Melodic Death Metal has a trait it is the work with the guitars. In general, all Melodic Death Metal bands have an amazing guitar work with great guitar riffings, licks and phrases. I dare to say that these kind of guitars are the stapler of the subgenre besides with the vocals. However, what Death Scythe with “Killing for Pleasure Forever” do here is ridiculously amazing. “Killing for Pleasure Forever” is the collection of the best guitars I’ve heard in a while here – Ok, I’ve heard others as good as this one, but I have to remark this album. To some extent, this is the album that the fan will pay attention to the guitars and forget all the rest. Ok, not really, the songs are great, but that’s the impression it gets. This album is one of the albums that makes it pretty difficult to only pick one song to scythe here – ops, cite. Happy to know that Death Scythe are no newbies. They’ve been around since 2003 and this is their thirs full-length.
The album starts with the epic “Genesis of End” where the guitars call the eye on their epic phrasing. It’s the kind of track that tells the fan what’s to come and that would be with lots and lots of great guitars. One of the main staplers of Death Scythe deliver here is to have a great deal of variations about the guitar moods. “Genesis of End” has lots of them. Most notably, the band mixes the guitars of Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, and lots of other Heavy Metal bands with a Death Metal touch. It’s such a pleasure to wait for the next track only to listen to what the guitars will show case. Even the slower and moody tracks as “Drama” with ots acoustic guitars and a flute are a kind of surprise for the textures they deliver. Just check the intro to “Buried Alive” and be delighted with the textures the band delivers here. Iron Maiden are present in the guitar phrasings of track as “Lost in Eternity,” for instance.
All right, enough with the guitars. “Killing for Pleasure Forever” delivers some more to the fan. The drumming is tight with some incredible blast beats. Vocalist Gerardo Mendoza does a pretty good job here being as versatile as possible to follow the tracks. From where I’m standing, all instrumentals are pretty well produced and performed here. Nothing to complain about the production of “Killing for Pleasure Forever” as it is as tight as possible not being overproduced nor poor produced. Well, a poor production kills Death Metal albums. Let’s agree with that.
By the way, pretty interesting album cover.
Death Scythe “Killing for Pleasure Forever” was self-released on August 26th.
Track Listing:
- Genesis of End
- Hollow Darkness
- The Eye of Oblivion
- Killer Faith
- Touched by a Scythe
- Rebor to Kill
- Drama
- Wind
- Lost in Eternity
- Burned Alive
- The Fall of the Empire
- Black Gate
- The Death Scythe
Watch “Touched by a Scythe” official music video here:
I’m just a lucky guy who has chosen metal to live with for a long time. Metal changed my life for good. It made me more confident and stronger. Metalheads are naturally far away from the mass mediocrity and don’t accept impostures from anybody else. Metal is more than music, it’s a life changing oportunity!