Vince and I had occasion to hang out with some of the dudes from With Dead Hands Rising once, and they seemed like very nice young men. So I’m not too happy to report that their latest offering, Expect Hell, is totally generic modern death metal.

Now, as far as I’m concerned, there are two types of generic: competent generic and boring generic. And, unfortunately, WDHR fall into the latter category. ‘Cause there’s nothing especially wrong with Expect Hell, but there isn’t a single memorable or even vaguely catchy riff or hook on the whole damn thing. In fact, WDHR would seem to be one of those bands that are much more interested in being as br00tal as possible without, y’know, actually putting much work into the songs.

In short: Expect Hell is by no means the worst album ever recorded. But with so much great death metal already released this year (Hate Eternal, Origin, etc.) and so much more just over the horizon (Deicide, All Shall Perish, etc.), I can’t imagine anyone – not even the most severe death metal junkie – really needing to give this one a spin.

(one and half out of five horns)

-AR