Symphonies of Blasphemy

Charlie Christ, seriously? Alright dudes, Marilyn Manson is calling, he wants royalties on his stupid naming scheme. Now that the obligatory comment on the sheer ridiculousness of the name is out of the way let's get to the actual review.

The album starts with a pretty good riff, although one problem that I noticed right away, is that the drum sort of cut through everything, and make the album feel more choppy than I think is intended. The album for the most part sticks to the tried and true formula of fast part -> more groove laden part -> fast part. The vocals are solid, and of the old school vein, meaning that they aren't really "brutal" or hard to understand, just good old fashioned growls and screams. The guitar leads don't really do too much for me, and for the most part they seem to be stuck in there because metal bands feel like it's required of them to include them in their songs. Thankfully they are short. The bass work is quality, which is good since it's actually audible in the mix.

The album blazes by as it's only about 20 min. long, which is a shame because the music is good, so it feel like it's over too quickly. My only real gripes with this, are the aforementioned problem with the drums being too prominent in the mix, and that at least once in the album I am attacked by terrible keyboards...it's towards the end of the album, and they don't last for too long, but any keyboards that are placed in a prominent position in any song is too much keyboard for me.

It should also be mentioned that this band features a member of Deeds Of Flesh, although they are pretty different musically, with Deeds being a more "brutal" band, and these guys going for a more "classic" approach.