THE DESCENT - The Coven Of Rats

The Descent - The Coven Of Rats (2016, Suspiria Records)

Coming from Spain, The Descent is a contender for one of the best Melodic Hardcore Death Metal albums of 2016. They remind me of the best albums of Darkest Hour, Dark Tranquility, The Haunted, and Diecast. Even the Pulp Fiction sampling screams out Melodic Hardcore of the late 1990’s. As they say, it is nothing new under the sun but it is done right and in the spirit of the best offerings of the genre.

The many screamed, cleans, and growls makes it also specific to the influences they emulate. The guitars are driving the songs with melodic riffs that seems to be imported directly from Gothenburg. The bass guitar is also very present and it gives a loud sound to the album. The drums sound a bit flat to my ears but it is just a question of recording more than the actual performance by Aitor.

As a whole, The Coven Of Rats has many strong elements but a weakness in the number of songs, twelve and it is too many and the album seems longer than it actually is. Narrowing this down to ten solid songs could have been a benefit for the success of the album and make it even more efficient in its range.

As stated above, this respects the genre that is Melodic Hardcore in the vein of Darkest Hour. A smaller dose, although would have been enough to make us asking for more. In this case, there are too many songs and not enough variations. It is enjoyable and when a genre is done right it is also rewarding for the album and the listener.

7.0