Cost: $1.00
I found this sealed and I originally got it as trade fodder, thinking it was an indie gothic or horror punk release based on the front/back cover. I opened it to replace the cracked case and one of the two fellows (I should point out now for the sake of clarity that it's basically a one-man project with assistance on his various releases) is wearing a Kreator shirt. So of course based on that alone I'm compelled to listen to it. Speaking of which, I've often pondered why non-metal bands--particularly punk/hardcore bands--don't wear metal t-shirts prominently in photos placed strategically in the CD layouts to trick me and like-minded individuals (yes, what a terrible thought) into buying their albums. Then I realized they wouldn't see any money from it as I'd just wait for said albums to show up in the dollar bin.
This is a sort of dark progressive metal with jangly guitars. Part III (the album is a single song indexed into sections) employs some black metal guitarwork and vocals--probably the most interesting part of the whole thing, yet used only briefly. Musically, it's not terrible, except for the normal vocals, which have a trying-to-be-dramatic inflection and enunciation I found kind of silly. But it didn't evoke any strong response from me and failed to create any real atmosphere.
I should also note All Hallow's Evil have been quite prolific in putting out releases (the others seem to have varying degrees of metal content/influence). I suspect that to whatever extent, there's a problem with overabundance of ideas and a compulsion to document everything musically without regards to quality control. If this is a truly self-serving project then that's fine, but then why even bother to put it on CD-R?
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