Soulless - In Death's Grip (2013) [Gorgatz]

Soulless - In Death's Grip (2013) [Gorgatz]

r /> Soulless - In Death's Grip (2013) [Gorgatz]



- I N F O -

The fourth album from Cleveland, Ohio's Soulless, "In Death's Grip" continues a strong tradition of their death/thrash sound. Expect searing rip your head off riffing, deep discernible acidic laced vocals from Jim Luppucci and a style that blends together the unrelenting energy of "Heartwork" era Carcass with a little bit of the Swedish death trills and speed factor acts like Slayer and Razor were known for through the years.

The stop/ starts on "Death's Icy Grip" send enough chills down my spine, then the crazy rhythmic delivery from Jim kicks in and ups the creepy factor a hundred times. Other highlights include the swinging "Sinner Without a Soul" that is sure to spit out many sweaty pit mongers with its whirlwind mid-tempo riff offerings and the band's interpretation of the Destructor classic "Take Command".

Soulless is criminally underrated, the blue collar work ethic and execution makes them an act that probably should have a wider appeal than they do- if you enjoy metal to the bone, "In Death's Grip" should be a fine album to bang thy head to.

The more I think about it, the more it seems that thrash metal has to have been the most fortuitous of all the true metal styles. It hit the sweet spot at just the right point in time in heavy metal’s evolution and it was fortunate enough to be ushered in by innumerable once-in-a-lifetime talents. But to these ears, it has also aged the worst; compared to its forebears and the more virulent extreme metal it helped create in the process, thrash has not managed to stay relevant. Oh sure, old bands reform, new bands sprout up, both with alarming frequency but a certain visceral aspect that was the hallmark of the 80s has been irreconcilably lost in the mad rush to don the denim and leathers. Thrash by inherent nature isn’t as dependent on atmospherics as others in its immediate family tree; it needs strong, memorable songwriting to register, an art that has unfortunately deteriorated over time.

And without the songwriting, what does one make of modern thrash other than perhaps a means to a quick, self-gratifying fix; enjoyable in the fleeting instant yet obsolete in the final accounting. Ohio’s Soulless play an incredibly catchy form of thrash littered with chugs, grooves, and sweet melodies galore; this style keeps getting labeled “death/thrash” but a Morbid Saint or a Demolition Hammer this most certainly isn’t. Soulless have more in common with In Flames of The Jester Race period, and the Gothenburg school in general. In Death’s Grip is very competently executed but at no time does it snap out and sink its pincers into the listener’s psyche. There are conventional thrash bits strewn all over, mixed in with exceedingly saccharine, melodies and ill-conceived grooves; some of these transitions belie all pretension to subtlety, outlandish and jarring in their lack of continuity. The impulse to spread one’s net wide, as it were, has always escaped my comprehension. One has to be outrageously bipolar to switch emotions so tactlessly.

This is the kind of metal bound to be eagerly lapped up by less-discerning but otherwise well-intentioned fans. It is inoffensive, it feels superficially feverish, and it makes for good times over the weekend din at the pub. I can even buy into the premise that the guys in Soulless are genuine, less driven by market-place cynicism than a natural exuberance for the flavour their music exhibits. But it is a flavour that leaves me indifferent and that’s the worst sort.

- T R A C K L I S T -

1. Vindictae Dei (Intro) (0:39)
2. The Crippler (3:28)
3. Serpent Reaper (5:11)
4. It Ends Tonight (3:53)
5. Bleed You Dry (4:42)
6. Bury the Cross (3:23)
7. In Darkness Consumed (3:28)
8. Death’s Icy Grip (3:57)
9. Burnt Earth (5:13)
10. Sinner Without a Soul (4:20)
11. World of Ruin (3:56)

Quality: 102 mb | mp3, CBR 320 kbps
Genre: Melodic Death/Thrash Metal
Size: 98.12 MB