Lost to the Living

Some albums are relevant to extreme metal because of the vocals more than the music itself; ' is a prime example. The thing that does the most to push this goth-influenced melodic death metal disc into the extreme metal category is the vocals, which favor the stereotypical "Cookie Monster" growl that death metal is famous (or infamous) for. contains some clean vocals as well, but most of the time, the "Cookie Monster" prevails and enjoys the spotlight. Take away the "Cookie Monster," however, and you are left with an album that -- although aggressively hard-rocking -- isn't all that extreme. is never flat-out vicious the way that so many extreme metal recordings are flat-out vicious; in fact, the performances are decidedly melodic, combining death metal elements with gloomy, brooding melodies and a pessimistic outlook that says "goth" in no uncertain terms. If you are looking for happy, feel-good escapism, you certainly won't find it on tracks like and ; this 2008 release shares goth rock's melancholy and makes no bones about it. Nor will you find material that is groundbreaking; anyone who has spent a lot of time listening to , , or has heard plenty of plenty of CDs along the lines of what these North Carolina residents offer on . But all of the material is solid and well executed, and continue to be one of the American bands that has no problem sounding convincing on European-style extreme metal. ~ Alex Henderson