Death-A-Holic

Ode To My Misery was a decent melodeath album at best. Quite generic, yes, but nothing heinous.

Death-A-Holic has taken a step in what I like to call the 'Reroute to Remain direction'. I.e. going from something good to something... you know. Vocals are typical 'core' vocals. Riffs are also extremely 'core'. Even the guitar sound is 'core'. The structures are extremely 'verse-chorus-verse-chorus', which can sometimes be a good thing, but this just reeks of the generic.

The first track, Suicide Manual, begins with an electronic intro which made me wonder. Perhaps it was going to be a great into with a gigantic buildup into an explosion of original metal? Nope, just an explosion of what I've already heard plenty of times before. The rest of the album hardly deviates from this.

The only thing which begins to save this album is the good guitar work. Most of it is generic At The Gates riffing, but occasionally, there's quite a good, well played, original(ish) riff. The solos are not bad, but nothing groundbreaking.

If you thought Arch Enemy and In Flames (late) should have more identical albums, this is the album for you. If you're after something a little more original, this is not for you. For quality melodic death metal, I would suggest you listen to Vornagar, or In Flames' 'Subterranean'.