Remains of the Gods

Light This City | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (May 17, 2005)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Prosthetic
• ASIN: B0009A3ZY4
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #45,018 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Light This City...Straight San Francisco Thrash, August 24, 2005

By 

Knowledgeable DemiGod (Seattle, WA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Remains of the Gods (Audio CD)

If you are a fan of true metal, metal devoid of its hardcore-influenced breakdowns and simple chord progressions but glorious with assaulting guitar melodies and thrashing brutality, then Light This City is the clear choice.

Their last CD "The Hero Cycle" (which isn't available on Amazon and was independently released) was definitely a savage album. If you can, pick it up...fans of "Remains of the Gods" will appreciate the band a lot more if they can see the transformation they underwent for the new album. Instrumentation is much tighter, and Laura's voice is unleashed.

But even if you haven't heard 2003's "The Hero Cycle," this Prosthetic release will show anybody how metal is done. New metal pretty much sucks...bands like Avenged Sevenfold, Shadows Fall, etc are a disgrace. Hardcore-influenced metal bands (metalcore) come a dime a dozen and are, quite frankly, pretty awful.

But there are a few gems in the metal world today...Darkest Hour (though "Undoing Ruin" was a step down from "Hidden Hands of A Sadist Nation"), The Black Dahlia Murder, Conducting From The Grave...bands who approach thrash as it should be done. Add Light This City to the list.

I won't go into the specifics, but pretty much every song (aside from "The Hunt") is a thrill ride straight through. The kid who writes these songs knows guitar melodies and can transition flawlessly between them, the drummer can handle his dual-bass with ease, and the female vocalist is both beautiful and blessed with a growl that could bring one to tears. This CD is one of the most listenable so far of 2005, and should definitely be owned. Next time they come through your town, Light This City are not a show to be missed...anyone at the 58 Tehama St. show will know!

Long live thrash metal.... long live Light This City.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Fan of Darkest Hour/The Black Dahlia Murder?, June 24, 2005

By 

Chris Conlan (BreakingCustom.com) (Iowa) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Remains of the Gods (Audio CD)

Review by Mike Watson:

Hailing from the Prosthetic Records family is the very metal, Light This City. With their Prosthetic debut, Remains Of The Gods, Light This City show us that metal does have a place for women. The great thing about the vocals is until you look at pictures of the band and then re-listen to the album, you would have no idea their vocalist is a female. The even better part is, while most bands w/ female vocalists use that as a gimmick, Light this City strays far away from any kind of gimmick.

Remains Of The Gods sounds like the child of the almighty Black Dahlia Murder impregnated by Darkest Hour style thrash. This album is a flawless metal album, as fans of either aforementioned bands should already know. There really isn't a whole lot that sets Light This City apart from other bands of its kind which means with newer metalheads this one may slip through the cracks.

With great Darkest Hour style melodic riffing and Black Dahlia Murder style high and low guttural growls, this album is a must have if you like to head bang. If your neck is a little worn out, you may want to sit this one out.

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Drifting towards straight death metal, December 27, 2005

By 

Destroy Boy (www.ohboydestroy.com) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Remains of the Gods (Audio CD)

For those of you not familiar with this band they've recently emerged as the most faithful At The
Gates clone in metal thus far. Even though they're Americans they recreated the classic period
Gothenburg melodeath sound absolutely perfectly. But like a double-edge sword, it's both their
strength and weakness as you can't help get that been there, done that feeling when listening to
their records.

This second album finds Light This City expanding on this trademark sound by incorporating
more outside elements than you find in classic period melodeath. One you'll notice right away is
the frequent use of blast beats, almost on every song. This more aggressive approach definitely
adds a more brutal edge to the music but it comes directly at the expense of their previous more
melodic approach. And that's the other big change, the almost complete abandonment of
melodic riffs outside the core Gothenburg style of using them as the main riff. Even when they're
used as the main riff on this album it's so fast it's hard to even tell what's happening.

I can see why they went this route as they were probably tired of the At The Gates comparisons
but now they much more resemble current era death metal bands in sound and structure. That's
not to say they've turned into a totally different band as there's still plenty of great sounding
melodeath here but it's not each and every song like their last record or even the bulk of any given
song. Some fans might like this turn to a more death metal sound but for the fans that felt like At
The Gates had risen again you can't help but feel a pang of disappointment to see this new
approach.

One thing that has not changed in the least is the absolutely stellar production. If anything it's
even better. The guitars are crisp, the drums are punishing and the throat ripping vocals (by a
female!) are perfectly placed in the mix.

On the whole I think Light This City find themselves in an awkward position of not satisfying their
core traditionalist audience but not being hard enough for straight death metal. Hopefully they
stop straddling the fence on their next record so at least one camp can be pleased. I hope it's
mine!

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