Demise of Eros
Neither Storm Nor Quake Nor Fire
6.2
Synopsis:
Read my recent War of Ages review and notch the scores down a bit...
Review:
It’s probably my own fault for reviewing this hot on the heels of label mates (Strikefirst is Facedown’s farm league) and church mates War of Ages, and that (or I’m really cranky today) has probably resulted in this rather jaded and negative review of what is actually a solid album for the genre, (yup-Christian metalcore).
With a focus on melody and As I Lay Dying/Unearth styled leads, solos and breakdowns, with a hefty dose of clean segues and introspection, Demise of Eros’ debut isn’t all bad, except for the fact I want to be facetious and call the band Demise of Creativity or Demise of Originality as they cull absolutely everything from the metalcore/deathcore genre, and though they cull it well, and this album has a few nice moments, I can’t shake the impression it was spouted out by some sort of random Christian metalcore generator that’s responsible for better bands like the aforementioned War of Ages or Foreknown and Inked In Blood. There's also the generic but competent bands like Fallen Angel, The Murdered, Above This Fire, Destroy the Runner, The Divine Romance, Within, Neshemah and too many others to name.
The thing is, if you like the genre and style, as I do, Pittsburgh’s Demise of Eros are not at all bad, they scream, sing, rumble and gallop with aplomb and lots of nice dual harmonies (“Overtaken”, “Engraved On My Palms”, “Reach For the Sky Punk”, “Waking Eyes”, “Truth Unlived”) and have some nice graceful acoustic interludes like “Scream For Me Brazil” and erm, “Interlude”(at least they were honest and didn’t call it something like “Tears Encrusted on the Faces of Ashen Angels in the Fall”), and closer “Of Ages Past” (Salaxative)”, has a nice epic, if cliched piano laced climax. But apart from the last track and maybe “Means to Grasp”, which shares the same sort of epic climax, and the interludes, every track is interchangeable with every band I’ve mentioned above. A perfect example is “Thirst” and “One Too Many Times”, which I though was actually War of Ages tracks when playing randomly in my Ipod.
I’m sure this review is coming across as harsher than it actually deserves as Neither Storm Nor Quake Nor Fire is a decent release for what it is and while listening to it, I’m certainly enjoying it - even if I can’t immediately identify them from the 36 other similar bands in my Ipod.
