Animosity Empires

I won't even pretend to be a connoisseur of death metal. I know very little about the current roster of Metal Blade or Century Media; it's just not that interesting to me. But Animosity's new CD has really blown me away. Hailing from San Francisco, where K Swiss and G Unit are more popular than Cannibal Corpse and Napalm Death, somehow these guys managed to find one another and put out a really, really enjoyable death metal record. I guess to the uninitiated, like myself, it's easy to draw musical comparisons to The Red Chord or Pig Destroyer, minus the schizophrenic, ADD song structures. But instead of relying on jumping all over the map, they opt for a really organic song structure that flows together seamlessly. Throughout the entire album there isn't a single transition that makes you pause or cringe, which to me says a lot, because I frequently am put off by this sort of metal because it seems so unnatural. And these guys don't ride any gimmick - there are blast beats, but they're used sparsely enough that they're actually engaging when they come in. There are some solos, but they're few and far between. The songs all clock in at around the three minute mark, meaning they don't drag on and on and on going back from chorus to verse to chorus ad nausea. They're tasteful and exercise a really appropriate amount of repetition in riffs and scales, which is something I can't say for most of their contemporaries. Usually I like to address the production separately from the playing, but it's hard to with this. The guitar tones remind me of Misery Index if they had a bit more warmth. They don't overuse the Swedish guitar leads, nor do they just chug away. The playing is never obnoxious or cheesy, and their restraint makes for quite an interesting listen. The drumming isn't hollow, tinny, or distant unlike a lot of metal records I hear. It's also ridiculously intricate, and I don't think the guy rests with one steady beat for more than six seconds anywhere on the record. The entire production just comes together so well, I'm surprised that I've never heard of Castle Ultimate Studios or Zack Ohren because he knows his shit. The vocals, which are generally of the deep throaty growl variety with the occasional sparse strained yell, are quite competent. He doesn't sound like he's trying to be Guy Kozowyk, or the singer from As I Lay Dying, unlike most up-and-coming bands. He sticks to his guns and it sounds pretty unique to me. The packaging for the CD, by Paul Romano from Work Hardened, is fantastic. Instead of opting for the normal imagery of skulls, demons, horns, red and black and the like - he uses a dirty aquatic palette revolving around two sickly looking monsters representing cities fighting one another (metaphorically the battle of the Empires, as per the name of the CD). It's so nice to see a metal record with balls that has absolutely no red ink anywhere near it. Bottom Line: I apologize if I can't properly convey how intensely enjoyable this record is due to my fleeting familiarity with the genre. But I think the fact that this record appeals to someone generally uninterested in the genre speaks very well for Animosity. Why these guys are on Black Market and not its parent label, Metal Blade, is beyond me, because they possess the talent and energy of every band on the roster. While these Animosity aren't going to be as popular as As I Lay Dying, I think most of us realize truly talented bands frequently get passed over because they're not jumping on fashionable new trends. Point is - if you're inclined toward metal at all, this release won't disappoint.