Dia De Los Muertos
Day of the Dead
5.5
Honestly, the best way to give an introduction to this band is how they describe themselves on their PureVolume site as: “Blending some of the top names in American & Latino metal, Dia De Los Muertos creates a bilingual unprecedented release…straight from the core of Latin America’s soul. From Los Angeles to Argentina…” So basically, what we have here is heavily Spanish influenced metal from Los Angeles. The most interesting thing about this band is that they don’t have a permanent vocalist; instead, they enlisted the help of various vocalists to do work on particular tracks. Each track stands out on its own as a completely separate musical statement from the others.
The use of various vocalists and the guitarist’s fluid style helps in the differentiation between songs. However, the characteristics that set them apart from many other bands is also the biggest hindrance to their music. It’s great that I can’t stick this band into one particular subgenre, but it’s not because of their originality. Despite their skill, the problem here is that their multifarious sound is not a product of talent, but of the album's overall lack of identity, direction, and focus.
Considering the fact Dia De Los Muertos failed to put any sort of song information or lyrics on their site and I'm lacking any sort of identification of which song is which, I’m forced to refer to the songs by their chronological appearance alone. After a rather boring introduction that was meant to build anticipation, the song bursts into a sort of thrash death style somewhere between Arch Enemy and possibly Carcass. Not a lot of variation goes on here; the song relies on the main riffs which are decent, but nothing surprising or original. I do have to say that I like the ferocity put out by the vocalist; the vocals are like a really pissed of Angela Gossow, but that’s about the only saving grace for this song. The first song has one of the better vocalists, but sets the standard for sub par riffing in its extreme mediocrity and lack of having any sort of standard deviation from the basic idea already laid out by bands far better than them. The next song, the worst of the album, sounds like a horribly drunken rendition of "Angel of Death" by Slayer. At least most bands have the decency to try to hide the ideas they steal, instead, the vocalist almost completely copies the vocal patterns of the previously mentioned Slayer song. That, and I’m sorry, but lyrics like “It’s over when I say it’s over,” and, “war…war mother fucker,” accomplish nothing but being extremely ridiculous. The next song stays in the standard thrash death vein the previous songs laid out. Less thrashy than the last, but still not straying far from Sepultura at most points, the song winds its way down its repetitive and predictable turns. I don’t even know how to describe the next song besides fucking horrendous. It’s just as redundant as the others, but they manage to slow the song down and focus on one horribly redundant riff and its lackluster variations. The next and last track is the most interesting as far as I’m concerned. Still uneventful as hell, but at least it has an intensity all tracks besides the first lacked. With a goregrind style similar to Aborted, the next song chugs on with a strong forward motion. Granted this song is basic, but it’s at least more enjoyable then the failed thrash death the rest of the album offers.
The lack of a permanent vocalist seriously hurts the sound of Dia De Los Muertos. The guitars seem to match the particular vocalist and this ends up seriously hurting the album's cohesiveness; nothing seems tied together in any logical progression. The band flips from sound to sound without actively focusing on one particular style or aspect of a genre they could capitalize on; extremely unfocussed, and extremely unprofessional. Dia De Los Muertos has decent musicians, but bands like this that want to break out to a wider audience need to realize they need to offer something that will set them apart from the rest of the bands that sound just like them. Maybe it’s just me, but Day of the Dead fails to stand out and is ultimately bland and uninteresting.
