CREMATORIUM „The Process of Endtime”

Music: Death/Thrash/Murdercore
Country: USA
Website: http://www.crematoriummusic.com
Duration: 32.13


Cool Songs: Bloodwake, Drowning as One, Dying Under a Binary Star, Born of the Deadtide

I think we’ve possibly had enough ‘core’ descriptions by now hey? But of course, when Metalcore, Deathcore, Hardcore, Noisecore and Mathcore just can’t quite capture the very essence of your style, you just have to invent another. Welcome to ‘Mudercore’. Doesn’t really make too much difference does it? It still screams of an aggressive metal hybrid and as such if you cannot resist fast Death/Thrash with the mosh ‘n groove elements of the current NWOAHM, then you’ll love Crematorium.

The first that I will say about ‘Crematorium’ is that they are not your regular meat and potatoes American Metalcore act. They may be signed to the uber American Metal label in Prosthetic Records, but in all honesty this five piece act has carved their own little niche within their roster. Crematorium is an extremely tight and focused band – ‘The Process of Endtime’ captures a furious aggression that has more to do with blasting style death metal meets Bay Area Thrash than anything that Lamb of God or Light This City would offer up. In this regard it is quite refreshing to see the band ditch the somewhat obligatory melodic ‘Swedish’ influence in favour of something more akin to Testament or classic Forbidden.

It is this ultra aggressive ‘thrash’ element that has had me returning to this album repeated over the past couple of weeks. The ‘Forbidden’ tag isn’t just a cursory tag either – particularly with those sharp, tight shredding riffs conjuring a real ‘Twisted into Form’ feel. Furthermore, the vocal performance of main man Daniel Dismal had me more than several occasions searching the liner notes for the guest vocal appearance of Forbidden’s ‘Russ Anderson’. Granted, Dismal does switch his style quite often, moving between a low death-like guttural growl to harsher metalcore-ish shouting to mid range tones. Still, the ‘Russ Anderson/Forbidden’ element sticks fast on this album.

‘The Process of Endtime’ also has some solid songwriting about it too. Most of what is delivered here has a real consistency about it and with the band varying its style between blasting death/thrash riffage and metalcore groove segments, there is ample variation to appeal. Granted, there is cause to suggest that there may not be enough ‘hook’ about their song writing to really stand out, but at 32 minutes there is no doubt that ‘Crematorium’ race through their material with an unbridled attitude and unforgiving aggression that’s hard to ignore. Backed by a thick, beefy D.D Ehrlich/Brad Vance production that also allows Frank Perez’s melodic lead work to shine through the mix, ‘The Process…’ hits with a real death/thrash intent. For me, this is the most impressive aspect of Crematorium. I like their style.

Tracklist

Bloodwake
Reconstructed
Drowning as One
Infinitesimal Acculturation
Perils of the Disillusion
Dying Under a Binary Star
Turn a Blind Eye
Born of the Delatite
Testicular
End of Days

Line-up

Mark Uehlein,
Frank Perez,
Aaron Ramson,
Taylor Young,
Daniel Dismal