Review of Led Astray - Denying the Inevitable

Hailing from Holland, Led Astray is a technical death/thrash band that almost make a strong impact with their self-released debut, Denying the Inevitable. Right now, unfortunately, this band is all about potential. They have the chops, playing a breed of music that is as much Carnal Forge as it is Cannibal Corpse. I’m not sure if it’s the production or some other little nuances that ultimately hold his album back, though. Lets take a look at a few things that stick out while listening to this thing.

There’s definitely something in the rhythm playing that I don’t like, namely that often times it sounds disrhythmic, like a subtle start/stop thing during the guitar downstrokes, which gives the songs a bit of a disjointed feel. This is okay if your band is The Dillinger Escape Plan and that sort of wacky timing is your trademark, but I don’t want it in my death/thrash. There might also be just a bit too many drum fills and runs that sound out of place, in addition to perhaps being too upfront in the mix. I’m also not too keen on the guttural vocals, which are just a little too generic brutal death for my tastes (which actually works with the more death metal moments), although the guy’s higher register evokes thoughts of George “Corpsegrinder” Fisher and is a bit more fitting to the thrashier moments here. It’s not all bad, though. Some parts really work and come across in a vein similar to countrymen Callenish Circle, but that’s usually when they’re working a straight death or straight thrash moment. “Shattered Incomplete” is the best example here of the band's potential. If the whole album sounded like this, we'd have something here. Ultimately though, the band’s attempts to seamlessly merge the genres fail, and much of the album sounds incohesive, rushed, and amateurish.

Bottom Line: Promising at times, and disappointing in that that promise is not fully realized. The members of Led Astray all have previous experience in other bands so I’m not sure why they couldn’t get this right the first time. Well, they’ve been together as a unit for less than two years, and how often do you see stellar material out of a band that young in this genre? Hopefully on the next release the members will have gelled a bit more, sound tighter, and be able to play this sort of material the way it was meant to be played. If that happens, we’ll be looking at a force to be reckoned with.

Release Details

Led Astray

Denying the Inevitable

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