Originally written by Doug Moore.
Ever hear that old football platitude about being able to defend the perfect pass? The idea is that you can’t—even if the defense figures out exactly what’s coming, a pristinely-delivered ball will drop right into the receiver’s hands unmolested. The Price of Existence is that pass. Yup, it spirals gorgeously through the air on a pinpoint-precision arc past the swatting hands of a trailing free safety and into your ears.
Okay, stretched metaphor, but the point stands. All Shall Perish’s second album is exactly what it should be; namely, it’s a masterpiece of execution and a marked improvement on 2005’s Hate. Malice. Revenge. Now, it’s not as though these Californian bruisers have really made a big stylistic shift since their last effort, and The Price of Existence is a groove-driven melodic death metal album in the same vein as its predecessor. The album is absent any real innovation per se, but lordy lord, do these boys ever know how to do their thing. All Shall Perish’s songcraft and attention to detail have gone from merely impressive to truly meticulous since their move from the tiny Amputated Vein Records to Nuclear Blast. Guitarists Ben Orum and Chris Storey are doing the old dual-minor-harmony thing, sure enough, but with such flair and style that even those most calloused to this style will be impressed. The transition from thrashy chop to weaving tremolo lines to classical-metal lead one-upsmanship on songs like opener “Eradication” and “Better Living Through Catastrophe” is silken-smooth but still sharp enough to snag the listener by the collar and drag’em along; Orum and Storey have clearly done plenty enough homework to proficiently handle their chosen riffing styles. This band certainly has the chops department under control, and both drummer Matt Kuykendall and vocalist Hernan Hermida noticeably push themselves to their maximum technical ability here, and Hermida especially delivers an utterly rending and diverse performance that runs the gamut from extra-high registers to pig-squealin’ inward gutturals. On top of it all, Christ Storey is an absolute monster on leads, and his sweep-laden solos more or less make tracks like “Prisoner of War” and “The Last Relapse.”
Of course, this album pivots on its repertoire of breakdowns, and if you like death metal grooves, you’ll almost certainly be satisfied here. Though All Shall Perish are very likely to get stuck with the dreaded ‘deathcore’ tag, the plate-tectonics-grade slowdowns they purvey are pure death metal, plain and simple. Songs like “Wage Slaves”, “There Is No Business…”, and “The True Beast” function almost exclusively on the power of their breakdowns, and if you can deliver the heaving carnage in the massive quantities this band manages, then that’s A-OK. Granted, plotting your songwriting around one or two chord chugga segments invites repetition into your sound, but All Shall Perish aren’t shooting for innovation and their selection of breakdowns (choppy and staccato on “There Is No Business…,” sludged-out on “Promises, etc.) guarantees at least some multiplicity to their tones.
There are certainly people who won’t like this album as much as I, but they’re frankly missing out. All Shall Perish have delivered one of the most exactingly written and precisely performed albums I’ve heard in years. They’ve managed to revitalize and make fresh a much-abused musical style, and for that alone they deserve all the accolades in the metal world.
