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Reviews

SKEPSIS: THROUGH THE EYES OF THE DEAD FANS CAN RELAX!

 Tuesday, February 2nd, 2010 at 9:52am by

If you’re a fan of Through the Eyes of the Dead – and I don’t mind telling you that I am – you were probably deeply worried about Skepsis, the band’s first album in more than two years. Hell, it’s 3/5ths of a different band now than it was when 2007′s excellent Malice was released! But you can relax: the album, which comes out today on Prosthetic, is a direct sequel to that record, both in style and quality.

TTEOTD get compared to The Black Dahlia Murder a lot, and it’s an apt comparison. Like that band, TTEOTD doesn’t seem interested in trying to reinvent the death metal wheel so much as they just wanna perfect it, and make music as brutal as they music they grew up loving. And, once again, they’ve by and large succeeded. The machine gun drums, the industrial strength drill riffs, the solos that are epic without being overly shredd-y – they’re all here in spades. If you want music to violently, repeatedly, and rhythmically stab people by, than you’re not gonna do much better than album highlights like “No Haven” “Siphonaptera From Within,” and “Defaced Reality.” If you liked Malice, there’s very little change you’re not going to enjoy Skepsis.

In fact, I guess the vision of founding guitarist Justin Longshore and/or remaining bassist Jake Ososkie must be pretty strong – how else to explain how little the new line-up has changed TTEOTD’s sound since Malice? If anything, Skepsis might just be a little too similar to its predecessor. The band self-produced this album, but  Longshore and Ososkie clearly watched Erik Rutan closely when he manned the boards for Malice. You could tell me Rutan produced this album, too, and I’d probably believe you. Meanwhile, new vocalist Danny Rodriguez is capable of sounding eerily like Malice-era front man Nate Johnson – except with greater range. In addition to Johnson’s deep grunts, he can do higher-pitched screeches more in line with what Anthony Gunnells did on 2005′s Bloodlust. Rodriguez is to TTEOTD as we were told Dan Nelson was going to be Anthrax – the guy who will unite all the fans who can’t agree about which former vocalist was best.

So, the short version: we really had no reason to be worried! Let’s keep that in mind in case everyone but Longshore and Ososkie quits before the next album. I could live without the agita.

(three and a half out of five horns)

-AR

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  • http://thenumberoftheblog.wordpress.com/ groverXIII

    I really didn’t see anything special about this album, to be honest. I thought it was basic deathcore minus most of the breakdowns. Nothing new or special here.

    • http://ihatejade.com/?id=1japi3153329oacnd59ftmp5ve6x2l jesus on the dashboard

      agreed a thought it was very generic

  • Jesus

    a really disappointing release, Malice was fucking beautiful and then they come out with a completly generic album

    • jellon

      Your headphones must’ve sucked.

  • http://music.msn.com/superfans/heavy-metal/blog pdf

    I agree with the two posters immediately above. This album is generic and tedious. Here’s what I said about it on my blog today:

    “After three albums, an EP and a split, this band has exactly one original member left. Three of the former members left at once, forming the more traditionally death metal-ish (and frankly better) Graves of Valor. Through the Eyes of the Dead are a by-the-numbers deathcore band; they sound like Whitechapel, early Job for a Cowboy, or any one of six dozen other bands you can’t tell apart because their triggered blast beats, brick-wall mix, and uninspired riffing all seem to have been extruded from a giant nozzle onto CD, like Oreos being filled with white goop on a conveyor belt. After all the trouble guitarist Justin Longshore’s had holding onto bandmates, maybe he should take the hint and try to come up with a more inspiring idea.”

  • Kye

    One of the few decent bands to come out of my state…and they still don’t impress me that much. Not bad, but not great either.

  • I’m not racst, but I hate Oceano

    I already listen to this album in 2008. Oh, this isn’t This Is Exile?

  • Elpants

    I listened to it last night.

    Every song sounds pretty much the same with minor variations.

  • B-dizzle

    Anthony Gunnells was a terrible vocalist. One of the absolute worst

    • jtquake

      disagree. enjoyed bloodlust very much– i found his vocals to be quite fun.

  • http://www.myspace.com/somethinglikesweet CJ

    Good CD.

  • myke

    its solid cd but didnt step out of their element with this. basically stayed with in their safe zone.

  • Seb

    fucking love this album!

  • http://www.tuhdeh.net Tom

    Bullshit, Malice was beautiful. Skepsis is just generic shitcore… blegh!

    • jellon

      I disagree, I find the instruments and Danny Rodriguez’s vocals pretty amazing.

  • Natsquatch

    Wow, I really wasn’t expecting to see so many negative/meh reactions in the comments. I personally love it but, whatever, haha. They didn’t change the sound drastically, just turned everything up a couple of notches. Then again, if you weren’t a fan to begin with, I guess my argument doesn’t really matter.

    Somebody mentioned Skepsis being the same as This is Exile- IMO Through the Eyes of the Dead are the band Whitechapel wish they could be. TTEOTD been around since near the beginning of deathcore and are pioneers of the scene, while Whitechapel didn’t even form until 2006, after it was already trendy to be playing this style of music. They’re the Bullet for My Valentine of deathcore.

  • Romaould the Loquacious

    I really like this album. Sure, it’s not totally different or new, but it’s just good shit to rock out with your cocks out to. lol I thought it was a sick album, but I will admit I liked Malice more. Still a good album. ‘Nuff said.

  • Derek

    On the past couple albums they did things that made them stand out in the deathcore crowd but this album is boring as fuck. I dont remember thinking to myself “fuck yah” or “that riff/breakdown was sweet” at any point during this record like I did on their previous ones. Nate leaving didnt help the situation either.

  • Facebook User

    I too found this to be a giant lump of dogshit.

    • jellon

      Your headphones must’ve sucked. Get better ones.

  • chainsaw gutsfukkk

    I have been down for this band since day one.I honeslty find the only thing wrong with this album to be the lack of more intricate riffs and break downs that we started to see on malice.I find the third ( and hopefully) final vocalist and new drummer to be rad. They still put out an album that was a thousand times better than anything white chapel or job for a cowboy has ever done.It kinda seems like some people are looking for these dudes to do something other than what they are which is a deathcore band. While this genre can get stale if thats all your jamming, what else do you expect out of it? You dont buy a cow and hate because its utters are full of delicious milk not whiskey.or something like that. Thats part of the appeal i find about this genre anyways, its just brutal consistency, the shit you put on in the whip on a long drive and bang your head to ever so gently.

  • Fong Chung

    This band made a new record? Really? No wonder you idiots enjoy such shitty music.

    • http://www.facebook.com/people/Aaron-Camp/885315541 Aaron Camp

      Shut it. That’s my intelligent reply.