Soulmass - The Painted World (Review + Free Download)

• Band: Soulmass
• Album: The Painted World
• Songs: 2
• Duration: 9:54
• Genre: Death Doom Metal
• Origin: Daytona Beach/St. Petersburg, Florida, USA
• Release: March 21st, 2014

Rating: 7/10

Soulmass, originally named Kingdoms of Flesh, is a death-doom metal band hailing from Florida. The band consists of Brent Windnagle (Lascaille's Shroud) and Bryan Edwards (Vermiform, ex- Seven Kingdoms, ex- This Solemn Vow). If you are familiar with either of the member's other projects, you will already know that they are proven members of the metal community. The production by Windnagle for Lascaille's Shroud is remarkable and Edward's former band This Solemn Vow was one of my favorite bands back in high school, so I had to give these guys a listen.

As, you may already know, The Painted World, is not the band's most recent release. Despairing Fates is their newest album (check it out, it's much better than this one). However, since this was released within the past year or so and since we are dedicated to spreading free music to the masses, we figured we would use The Painted World as a "gateway" to Despairing Fates.

First thing I noticed on this release, there are only two songs, one of which is a cover. Not a lot to go off of, which is why the rating may be somewhat misleading. However, the music itself is not that bad. 

The songs are more death metal oriented than doom, which is a plus for me since I LOVE death metal and am kind of iffy on doom. Usually, I feel like the scale weighs to the other side with this genre, so I was thankful for the change. The lead guitars and vocals are obviously inspired by death metal, where the rhythm usually has the typical distorted doom sound. I would say the lead guitar was the most notable part of these 2 tracks, but I wouldn't go as far to say it was memorable.

The amount of distortion on the opening track gets too thick at some points and becomes annoying. I know that this is a typical quality of doom metal, but I have heard it mixed much better in the past. Maybe I just don't have a big enough taste for doom though, because Windnagle is a more than capable producer, so I am sure he achieved the mix he wanted...but I still think the distortion is too thick.

The cover of Unleashed's, We Must Join With Him, was decent as well. They made the cover a little more doom-oriented than the original, but they did change it up enough to where I'd say they made it their own. That is not necessarily a bad thing though.

All in all, give them a listen. The album (can you call it that? More of a single and bonus cover) wasn't anything special, but it was by no means horrible. If you like doom metal, you may like it a lot more than I. I commend them for staying closer to death metal, but I wish I had more tracks on this album to help contribute to the rating. Luckily, I am pretty sure this was meant to be a small "fix" to hold fans over until they could release, Despairing Fates. Their Bandcamp and Facebook links are below. This album and another are available for free on Bandcamp, as well as their newest release which is available for $5.

Bandcamp
Facebook

Valyria - Collatus (Review + Free Download)

• Band: Valyria
• Album: Collatus
• Songs: 6
• Duration: 33:50
• Genre: Epic Melodic Death Metal
• Origin: St. Albert, Alberta, Canada 
• Release: June 18th, 2014

Rating: 7/10

I'm sure we all recognize this band name by now, but not for the music, but rather because of George R.R. Martin's epic fantasy novel series A Song of Ice and Fire, and the subsequent HBO hit series Game of Thrones. Epic fantasy series tend to be a popular source for band names nowadays, but I don't mind it because they spawn pretty bad ass names. I'm straying off point here, back to the music.

Valyria is a four-piece band hailing from St. Albert, Alberta, Canada. They play a form of melodic death metal that has a heavy power metal and slight thrash metal influence. Collatus marks the bands debut release. I have to say, the 6-track EP is a debut worth being proud of. On the EP, the band maintains an uplifting and positive sound throughout, that shows their power metal influence. This melodic sound is the highlight of the band and it showcases their musicianship well. The work of the guitarists is especially noteworthy. The chemistry between the 2 of them as they bellow out powerful melodic riffs and harmonize together is phenomenal. They guitarists are occasionally supported by awesome keyboard and piano solos (that sometimes will remind you of the original Castlevania video game). With the melodic ground work laid by the guitarist, the rest of the band compliments them death-growled vocals, a fair amount of double bass, and the occasional thrash riff that gives them additional heaviness.

Despite the great musicianship, the vocals are where the band starts to lose credibility. The vocalist predominantly uses death growls, but occasionally he switches it up to a baritone clean singing, as can be hard on the track, Polaris. Though I believe the vocalist can sing better than he can scream/growl, I believe the band made the right decision to use growls the majority of the time. However, I believe they chose the wrong person to do the growls. I do not know if it is a lack of talent when it comes to growling, terrible production, or a combination of both, but the death-growls were done horribly. The majority of the time it sounds like the vocalist is just mumbling into the mic. The growl during the breakdown of  Polaris made it difficult to finish the final minute or so of the song. I have heard vocals performed better by some of the worst bands I've ever heard, so I am disappointed that this band could not find a better way to lay down these vocals. At least the vocalist pulls double duty as bassist and hits us with a few noteworthy bass lines to attempt to redeem himself. Despite that, the vocals are still a blight to the music and caused me to lower my rating a lot.

Overall, I would suggest that you give this band a listen, especially the track Starborn. That track is mesmerizing all by itself. I am not a fan of many songs 6+ minutes long, but this one holds my attention. If you can look past the vocals and focus on the music, you will be happy you listened to this album. From the news I've been hearing, the band is currently writing their follow-up to Collatus. I have not heard a time frame for recording or release, but it's something I will definitely look out for. But, guys PLEASE...refine those vocals before you hit the studio. You will make tremendous strides if you do so.

Below are links to the bands Facebook and Bandcamp pages, the latter of which has the EP available for 'name your price".
Bandcamp
Facebook