Asherah Boutros Makes The Bed

As far as debut releases go (I’m assuming this is their first release; it’s been difficult finding out whether or not this is), Asherah’s “Boutros Makes the Bed” fares better than most. Initially, I was rather impressed by the band’s brand of mid-tempo metalcore mixed with growly, death-metal influenced vocals. However, at this juncture, the novelty has waned enough for me to rate Asherah as just above mediocre. The record itself is produced well, albeit a bit on the rough side; all six tracks stand out on their own at least. However, I think this effort is a bit too slow for my taste. Mid-tempo works for some genres and not others, and sadly, Asherah picked the wrong type of music to work with in that sense. I realize that there are enough upbeat parts interspersed within “Boutros Makes the Bed” to create some semblance of variety in the music, but the whole album tends to lean towards the slow side, keeping the listener interested for a short period of time. And while the members of Asherah are quite adept at using their instruments and don’t lack completely in the creativity department, I do feel that there are only so many times any given person can listen to an album that recycles, for the most part, the same breakdowns and acoustic interludes we’ve all been accosted with as of late. Personally, I was hoping a live version of Asherah would win me over (a cancelled show in Denver made that impossible), but after listening to this album a few more times, I came to the conclusion that there is probably very little any band can do to make the standard metalcore formula work well enough to be considered revolutionary anymore, and Asherah is no exception, despite their well thought-out and introspective lyrics, imaginative guitar riffs, and a more somber, death-metal approach to the genre. On the bright side of things, anyone who does take the time to listen to this EP will probably notice that Asherah, generally speaking, do have a mildly unique sound to them, though it’s a bit hard to pinpoint exactly what characteristic sets them apart in that respect. Whether due to the aforementioned under-polished recording, or the absence of lightning-fast blast beats and pummeling riffs, “Boutros Makes the Bed” has a sort of sleepy, mellow quality to them that makes for good listening in cold weather, but not so much so in the heat of summer. Bottom Line: Asherah don’t bring anything new to the table, but they at least have come up with some fairly agreeable, mid-tempo metalcore. Most people have probably written these guys off as run-of-the-mill, but I think as long as they stick together, they’re quite capable of releasing a more worthwhile (and proper) full-length, hopefully more in the metal vein of things and hopefully soon.