Listen, I’m all for retro death metal, especially if it features Jeff Nardone of Goatlord. I’m all for reliving the past glories and throwback grit of early 90’s death metal. What I’m not for is if that throw back is a throwback to JL America death metal.
Boring, lifeless, forgetful and dreary, lo-fi, mid paced death/black material that makes Obituary’s Back From the Dead and Frozen in Time and the likes of Cianide look like Dragonforce, Birthright is one throwback I can do without and Mr. Nardone must have some serious dirt on Nactmystium’s Azentrius (Battle Kommand’s owner) for this to get the OK.
Rough, shouted vocals increase the retro factor, as does the crusty guitar done-and the utterly dull riffs and pacing. Listen I like retro, I’m going on 35 and as much as I like the modern metal scene, give me something classic from the 90’s any day, but don’t give tracks like “Arrival of Prey”, or the even more primal “Ghost of the Crust Effect”, “Within Woods” and “Bonesaw”-which seem to be tacked on demo tracks, with an even worse guitar tone, lacking the moderate positive of a crusty low end that the previous 6 track have.
Even with Goatlord’s underground legacy, it’s hard to recommend Birthright to anyone other than Jeff Nardone’s immediate family or a musical caveman recently thawed out from 1990 and wants to feel at home. There’s just far better retro , throwback death metal out there to chose from than this.
