End Of All Paradise Burning

Sometimes when you first listen to a new CD, all you can say is ‘Wow.’ Usually it’s followed by “this is an atrocious heap of shit,” but other times you’re moved to a different type of exclamation; an exclamation of giddy, metal glee. Luckily, End Of All’s new full-length falls into the latter camp, and for good reasons: this is fun, absurd metal that thrives on a sense of pure, unadulterated evil. This is exactly the kind of album you’re glad to have on hand in order to scare away little old women and obnoxious children who dare to wander too closely. In other words, it has the staunch, unpretentious charm of a good hardcore band, and the sheer terror that only a good metal band can provoke. For those who enjoyed their last release on Tribunal Records, expect much, much more from “Paradise Burning.” An abundance of odd movie clips, twice the number of songs, and yes, utter brutality put this album miles above their self-titled effort. It’s hard to say what End Of All is now, but it’s clear that they’ve moved away from sounding completely inhuman, dark, and menacing. For a good portion of the time, the band still approaches their music in a decidedly metalcore/grind metal fashion, but at other times, the band will spin off in a completely different fashion, moving from an unabashedly heavy breakdown with death metal growls to a jazzy drum and guitar bit with little or no notice. Present as well are a multitude of lighting fast guitar solos and riffs that would sound sloppy if they didn’t also sound like they were made up on the spot. And perhaps it’s this spontaneity that makes this album so great to listen to, for it’s clear that all the members are incredibly proficient in making music; so much so that it’s hard to imagine why other bands can take their playing so seriously. To be honest, too, I can’t help feeling like End Of All is simply making fun of metal in the process. “Paradise Burning” comes off as almost too metal, too fast, and too evil to be taken seriously as well. Despite such suspicions, however, this album is just too good to pass up. Every track has something to offer, Sadly, there’s not enough room (or enough patience on behalf of the reader, most likely) to go through each song individually to highlight the best tracks, simply because every track has something to offer – be it death metal, grind, power metal, mock metal, or just straight up heavy metal. Furthermore, I doubt I could really explain just how spastic and strange this album sounds. Maybe it’s just something that needs to be listened to in order to be understood. A final note on the production is in order as well - everything is mixed well enough on this album, but I think someone forgot to master this thing. This gives the album an abrasive, rough feel, especially since the vocals sound like they’re running through an all-tube amp with every dial turned up to max and a distortion pedal added on for good measure. Don’t expect any over-polished gem here. Bottom Line: End Of All is a band that almost faded into obscurity but has somehow again popped out of nowhere to create an album that is so raw and appealing that its sole purpose seems to be to render one’s aural capacities useless. Play this loud, play it proud, play it in the most inappropriate places you can find – it’s sure to piss someone off.