Customer Reviews

Raven & The Reaping

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

man this band came out of left field and knocked me on my a$$ in a good way they remind me of Living Sacrifice with some Dimebag riff crunches so far one of the best releases of the year definitely in the top 5 of '08

when I bought this cd, I was assuming that it was a metalcore band. I assumed wrong. it sounds like Napalm Death in a fistfight with Lamb of God. I always thought that grindcore was only on labels like Relapse and Willowtip, but now Solid State is getting into the act. this is grindcore with a Christian message. Solid State needs more bands like this. this proves that even grindcore and metalcore can be positive

Well, i loved Embodyment when they were a metal band and being that The Famine is made up of the 3 main guys that were in Embodyment, you can tell why i am excited about this. This sounds alot like where Embodyment was going on their song "Halo of Winter" before they changed vocalists and went rock and roll.

They describe their style as "Suffocation playing Pantera and i somewhat agreed with that comment on their old demo songs, but not as much with this full length. I definately hear some Suffocation in the drumming and riffing, and i hear a little Pantera in the choppy grooves(think Far Beyond Driven's "Slaughtered"), but i dont hear much of the southern twang that was Pantera's signature. These guys remind me more of a mix of Machinehead, Lamb of God, and newer Decapitated with the ultra tight groove riffs and creative drum parts. The Vocals are pretty unique with their midrange growl and they are very easy to understand, which is not the case with 95% of death metal. The bass is pretty buried, but the tone of the recording is very clean and heavy as you would expect with producer Andreas Magnusson(Black Dahlia Murder, The Agony Scene, etc...)

The record's songwriting is very tight and there are alot of pop song structures used here, but that isnt really a bad thing at all. I like that there are definitive verses and choruses and these songs have a purpose and are not just a million riffs one after another. Alot of these riffs are memorable and the vocal lines have some catchiness to them. I love that there are no clean singing vocals on here and that there are no metalcore chugga breakdowns. This is very much american death/groove metal.

My only complaints are that there isnt a lot of variety in tempo or mood throughout the record and everything is very precise and straight forward. I would have like a little variety in mood some experimentation in the bridges or outros of the songs and maybe a few softer parts to make the heavy riffs more impactful, but overall i really dig this!!!

Highlight songs for me are "Behemoth", The South Will Rise", "Death Threat", and "Another Foot to the Shovel"

As a lover of all things Christian Metal, I was really excited to find "The Famine." There's a shortage of truly heavy grindcore/death metal style bands playing in the Christian scene right now. You've got legends like "Living Sacrifice" and you'll occasionally stumble upon something truly amazing like "Becoming the Archetype" or "Haste the Day"... but for the most part, you're looking at metalcore bands. Now, let me be up front.. Metalcore is one of my favorite genres of music. Most of my favorite bands are straight metalcore (August Burns Red, As I Lay Dying, In Fear and Faith, The Devil Wears Prada, Demon Hunter, etc.) That being said, I felt it was time to venture out into metal a little more and seek something more along the lines of "Becoming the Archetype" or even "Norma Jean."

I found exactly what I was looking for with "The Famine." This album is not only insanely brutal and heavy, but super technical, wizard fast and superbly creative! The chord progressions and riffs found here are exactly the kind of thing a heavy music fan needs to curb their appetite, and aside from that... the lyrics are great! (Ascend is a great worship song, and many others speak of political issues, relationships and God's plan for us.) Overall, this is a CD I could definitely recommend for fans of incredibly heavy music (although if you're trying to convince your friends that you're not an eccentric, this would not be the album to play for them.) : )

Long live Christian Metal. May God continue to use this music to pump fans and fill their minds with positive messages! I for one glean much spiritual and musical meat from this type of music, and I assume many others do the same!

In Christ,
Media Lover

Ex-members of grindcore band Embodyment have formed this new band, The Famine. This CD is so brutal I can't even describe it. Definitely check it out.