Label: Nuclear Blast
Release: August 08 2006
Hometown: CA



9.5 (out of 10)


All Shall Perish is another band in today's metal scene that is pushing the limits in terms of writing and performing. They're well know for intense drum lines, face melting sweep solos, technical guitar riffs, and ear shattering vocals. In this 11 song anthology, All Shall Perish are taking over the Death scene one body at a time, following up their debut effort entitled "Hate Malice Revenge". This album more than just blows their innitial effort out of the water, they blow many of today's mainstream death bands out of the water as well. In their first effort, All Shall Perish grabbed the attention of crowds, by combining Hardcore with traditional Death Metal to build up a brutal blend of music that would blow the heads off of all listeners. Now with their second release "The Price of Existance" they combine technical metal, with that same blend, to create an even better mixture that has been blowing minds everywhere.

   As the first song on the record and the album's single "Eradication" wastes no time at all impressing listeners. A short drum roll with harmonized chords is all it takes for All Shal Perish to begin the face melting action that is Chris Storey. After a brief sweep, the song jumps into fast-paced blasts and grinding guitar riffs, followed by the low growls and chants that make up the first breakdown of the album. After a brief two-step part and a wandering guitar riff, All Shall Perish bring things back into a breakdown, overlapped by a catchy solo. After the solo ends, the music speeds back up with the opening riff to complete the song. "Wage Slaves" is a track that is for fans of the EP "Hate Malice Revenge" it has a tougher sound to it and sounds like a song that would fit perfectly on the EP. This track begins at the sound of a cow bell and the tempo remains a lot lower for the majority of the track. This track is well noted for it's tough sounding riffs and intense breakdowns. Although it falls away from the technical metal riffs that the album is made up of, it still remains catchy to listeners. The track "Day of Justice" picks back up where "Eradication" left off, with a few fast blasts to the crash, the track takes right off. Tantalizing double bass, and riffs provocative enough to make listeners dance in their seat, make up the majority of the song. The solo at the 1 minute mark is a lick made up of melodic bass rhythm and a harmonious overlay that'll have listeners struggling to keep up to. This track also makes as a perfect example of why All Shall Perish can produce some of the catchiest breakdowns out today.

   After the abrupt end of "Day of Justice," "There is no Business to be Done on a Dead Planet" keeps the intensity going by opening things back up with yet another astounding breakdown, then shortly after a wandering guitar riff ensues until the squeals of vocalist Hernan Hermida intervene. After fast paced gravity blasting, the riff changes up for a bit and then repeats itself as a build up to the breakdown. As the breakdown continues it's combined with an eery guitar riff followed by the same part in a lower octave on bass. After the track ends with one last scream, "Better Living Through Catastrophe" begins with a slower melody and the lyrics "Fuck everything you ever told..." As the riff continues it builds into a big circle pit part and then the beat changes into fast blasts. The following riff is one of my favorites on the album, it combines the skill of double picking with sweeps, in a higher pitch that carves itself into my brain. Later in the song after one of the main breakdowns in the song, the tempo slows back down and All Shall Perish strikes again with yet another solo, although not as memorable as the rest of the solos, it fits in with the tempo of the song. After "Better Living Through Catastrophe" rings out "Prisoner of War" comes in instrumental and then after about 15 seconds jumps full force into a breakdown and is partially covered with a different style sweeping pattern that remains behind the music for a while. After a little bit the Bass jumps into a scary sounding riff and the guitars soon follow in a higher octave. This track is a lot different than the rest of the album and has a Black Metal feel to it. The interlude on this album is quite refreshing. It gives listeners a break from straight metal and is a little relaxing. The melody of this interlude is good enough for me to safely say that I'd enjoy a complete album of just instrumental tracks like this one.

   When the Interlude finally rings out, we jump into my favorite song on the album entitled "We Hold These Truths". This song starts out with a repeating arpeggio that plucks 4 notes and then returns to the note before, to follow an overall pattern, giving the arpeggio a different feel to it. Again in this track, All Shall Perish displays using sweeps with alternate picking, which I myself enjoy a lot. After the breakdown, things slow back down with a little harmony and then things jump back into gear again. A few times more this track slows down, but then brings things back up to speed with more alternate picking and speed picking before returning to the opening riffs of the song. Before ending the track, All Shall Perish decides to jump back into the opening breakdown once more and then the song ends all at once. "The True Beast" is another track for older fans of All Shall Perish. It has the same sort of feel to it as the last EP did, it has a little tougher sound, and a little more simplistic riffs, compared to the best songs on this album. That's not to say this song is bad, it's just after hearing what All Shall Perish has become capable of now, it just really doesn't stand a chance against the other material. To begin the track titled "Promises" we start again in a slower melody that lasts up until around the 40 second mark, where the guitarist builds up to the breakdown with a clever sounding pick tapping pattern. As the song proceeds along, the drums do a snare build up while the guitars follow a simple melody and just before the track ends, they jump back into things at the same time. "The Last Relapse" is not only the last track on the album, but it also doubles as the longest track. I enjoyed this track thorougly, it has a slow start to it and has overlapping vocal tracks that have a really unique sound. As a last effort on "The Price of Existance," I found "The Last Relapse" to be very fitting as a final song on the album. It wasn't the greatest track on the album, but was fitting enough for their style to make listeners just want to hear more. It contained instrumental interludes and clever build ups and towards the end had a really clever guitar solo that brought the tempo back down, to where the piano track would loop and ring out to end the album.

   There's not much I can say against this album, It was perfectly mastered, really clever sounding, and I've found myself completely hooked on it. Some may think there are an over-abundance of sweep arpeggio patterns, but the ways All Shall Perish used them in this album were very original. Many of metal bands out now, just use them as solos during breakdowns or interludes, but All Shall Perish managed to fit them perfectly in verses with alternate picking patterns as well as in their solos. The drumming on this album is pretty much flawless, they managed to use originality in their blasts and fills and technicality definately showed itself numerous times. This album is going to take listeners by storm and could possibly be one of the top metal releases of the year. Be on the lookout for All Shall Perish on tour and check out their debut full length on Nuclear Blast "The Price of Existance."

~ Drew
August 25 2006


All Shall Perish
The Price Of Existence
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