Originally written by Dan Staige.
Are you a happy-go-lucky type person? Do you like whistling melodies on the way to work and back? If you are, look no further than Swedish “melo-death”. Also, look somewhere else other than this review, because even though they come from an out of control breeding ground for cotton candy and teddy bears, Crowpath have the melody immunization shots in full effect to resist the disease. Are there tribes in Sweden? The reason I ask is because Crowpath’s sound is so percussive sounding, very akin to Sepultura’s sound as far as the drums go. But their music contains no simplistic jungle beats. In fact I find their sound very similar to Rune’s , only sped up significantly. So it comes as no surprise that Crowpath is now a product of Willowtip Records.
The band and die-hard fans will have to pardon my ignorance if I am wrong, but I am guessing this is a compilation album. I assume the first 2 tracks are new and off of the forthcoming Red on Chrome album, and the rest seem to be old material, and then even older material after that. The production on the last 2 tracks, “As Our Chapter Was Dying”, and “Empty Souls” is beyond horrid. So they are most likely demos. To be frank, I don’t really enjoy listening to the album in its entirety. The best thing about it is that it shows promise for a better record to come. Crowpath’s style is much like Rune & Kalibas, but they seem to want to keep their delivery loose. The bass plucks in the background while guitar riffing veers in all directions, sometimes stumbling aimlessly. Much like Kalibas, I can dig stuff like this in small doses, so by the time this record is done, I’m bordering on OD. There’s not a lot of definite feeling or distinction on the bulk of the record as there is in the album openers “Like Flies to Flames” & “Kings Among Cockroaches”.
It’s good to see different sounds sprouting up out of the land of clean choruses and finger snapping “pg” rated rhythms. Crowpath’s sound is unorthodox for the land, as I can see this easily coming from the Virginia’s here in the States, but not overseas. I will be anticipating Red on Chrome, but I don’t think I’ll be listening to Old Cuts & Blunt Knives again.
