I received a very professional package from these guys to promote their new self-titled album. Its really great to see metal bands putting work into their marketing campaingn. But really, it comes down to whats coming through my speakers - and ´BurnedinEffigy´ did not disappoint. Overall the band haven´t locked themselves into the kind of songs that are ´expected´ of metal bands, and have played around with some interesting riffs making the album more captivating - you never know what hook lies waiting in the next track. The album pulled me back into the grand early 90´s - when metal was king, and good ´thrash´ riffs were champion. Vocally I´m reminded of possibly some Phil Anselmo, ´Down´ era lines - and the guitaring varies between hard rock and thrash - with some added groovy additions. Production work on this debut is fair, and the mix is solid, with a good natural drum sound. The only thing I didn´t quite like was the ´screamo´ bits on some tracks - which has its place in metal - but doesn´t seem to add anything to ´BurnedInEffigy´ and only detracts from some catchy vocals, which other metal bands are sorely missing.
The album has too many tracks on it I feel (don´t hear that often), which is great value for money - but lacks the 8-10 song punch of a shorter release. My best advice is to buy this album and say you had a copy before the band goes to a major label...because they wil!
