Cost: $1.00
The bandname and album title on the spine piqued my interest on the shelf, but the style of the outer packaging and the odd capitalization of the tracklist made me question if this was metal (I'll admit I totally missed the "NEW YORK METAL" on the inside of the back insert, although that would probably make me suspect some modernized -core crap). I felt far more confident after looking it up online, so I snagged it, and here we are.
Initially I was pleasantly surprised since the disc is actual death metal, with a large chunk of the tracks having some degree of black metal influence in the riffage as well. There are also some extra elements and flourishes here and there like samples and use of piano/keyboards. It's nothing intrusive but it feels like they were added as monotony distractors rather than integrated into the music in a meaningful way. 2 of the interlude tracks and some more shreddy moments may point towards more progressive DM aspirations, but they're never really built upon. On the plus side, I found the faster, thrashier stuff like "5 Dimensional Apprehension" and "A Warm Embrace" to be pretty enjoyable. Still, several songs and the entire CD itself itself (72 min.) are just way too long for what's presented here. If this had been pared down to a mini-CD with 3 or 4 of the better tracks, I could more enthusiastically recommend it as being pretty generic but enjoyable. At this length it's a pretty tough slog through the entire thing without getting ear fatigue. A little disappointing in that aspect but overall an OK find for a buck.
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