This three-song burn with the names of the tracks written in ink in the blanks on the back of the slipcase didn’t look very promising when I pulled it out of the envelope. Still I decided to give it a listen, and occasionally you get a surprise.

Anything with the word “core” added on to the end of it these days draws eyerolls, and as you’d expect, the music is a blend of melodic death metal with a few hardcore shouts thrown in, but there’s also an element of melodic metal, particularly on the first track “Equals” and the third track “Died.” “Died” is probably the strongest here, taking the music in a slightly different direction with an almost smooth jazz piece with drums, bass and clean guitar showing up at the beginning and again at various points in the track. It’s certainly the most interesting.

The three songs here are filled with big guitar riffs, and they’re catchy as hell. My biggest complaint is that there weren’t a few more songs for me to feel out the band’s sound out a little more. Each of the tracks here offers something a bit different, and I’d be interested in what else they can come up with. I tend to associate German bands, perhaps unfairly, with a choppier, more guttural, perhaps a bit more industrial sound, but these songs groove more like a Chaos A.D. or Roots-era Sepultura. You can’t help bobbing along with them.

According to their Web site, www.subterfugecarver.de, the band has recently won the MARS contest in Stuttgart. To be honest, I’m not sure what exactly that means for their career, but it also says they’re working on a full-length album. If the rest of the songs are anything like these three, that definitely bodes

[Visit the band's website]

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