UMUR
"Death Eaters" is the debut full-length studio album by French, Lyon, Rhône-Alpes based technical thrash/groove metal act Frontal. The album was released in May 2014 and was promoted by Klonosphère and distributed by Season of Mist. Frontal was formed in 2005 and released a demo in 2009.
The music on the album is a technical type of thrash/groove metal, which to some extent is out of the Meshuggah school of playing. Frontal is not nearly as technical nor as innovative as the Swedes but the music is still very well played and it´s obvious that Frontal know how to handle their instruments. The vocals are raw, shouting, aggressive, and hardcore tinged. They are pretty standard for the genre and a bit monotone although they are in the more brutal and semi-growling end of the spectrum. The title track includes some cleaner (still raw though) sung vocal parts too, that reminds me slightly of Phil Anselmo (Pantera), which is nice for the variation.
The material on the 11 track, 40:12 minutes long album is overall of a high quality, featuring relatively good rhythmic variation (focusing on mid-paced heavy grooves), and both heavy and more atmospheric sections. The album is relavitely well produced too, although the guitars could have been sligthly more powerful in the mix. It´s details though and overall the album is well sounding. I miss a more unique sound, and that´s where Frontal could probably improve. It´s obvious they got both the skills and the songwriting ideas to produce something a bit more distinct sounding, but "Death Eaters" is still a both enjoyable and promising debut album. a 3.5 star (70%) rating is deserved.