World Under Blood - Tactical

World Under Blood - Tactical
Genre: Metal/Alternative
Rating: 7/10

Anyone who is familiar with the history of CKY will probably be aware of frontman Deron Miller's love of metal in all it's forms. Before the official formation of CKY Miller was guitarist in quite a few different projects all the way back to his high school years. One of the most famous of these projects was Foreign Objects which saw Deron work for the first time with another CKY founding member Jess Margera. The band produced heavy melodic metal combining spacey themes and complex solo's and distortion with Deron's ferocious roar. The band achieved some minor local success and many of the songs and stylistic elements were mixed with the more pop rock sensibilities of another project to eventually create the CKY sound. After CKY's third album An Anwer Can Be Found the band fell on hard times and nearly self destructed with members becoming physically violent to one another. During the gap between the bands third and fourth album World Under Blood were formed. Their album that was delayed several times due to conflicting engagements was finally released this august after a four years wait and sees Deron Miller try his hand at melodic death metal.

The album's sound described on the front as melodic death metal sticks very much to type as far as genres are concerned. Death metal aspects like lightning fast shredding and pummelling furious drum sections are present on each and every track. Vocally Deron mixes styles sometimes using his hoarse aggressive growl and at other points he employs the sort of melodic singing you'd find on a CKY album. The guitars are a mix of high octane speedy riffs, swirling solo's and tremolo picking making for a fairly hectic and heavy record. The combination of all this leads to a much heavier sound that makes World Under Blood easily discernable from CKY. As far as the album's length goes whilst it only has 9 tracks (ten if you buy it on itunes) most of the tracks are over four minutes which is quite long for death metal tracks. As a whole the album works quite well the blend of melodic and death metal vocals make highlights like "A God Among The Waste" more accessible and interesting. Other highlights include the frantic "Dead But Still In Pain" which demonstrates powerhouse precision with its evil sounding blasting rhythm. The only major downfall is the unmistakeable feeling that something is missing, whilst the mix of the more radio friendly elements like Deron's vocals makes the music more interesting it also means that hardcore death metal fans will probably find the whole thing a bit tame. The other side of this is that the cluttered drums and relentless riffing may prove to caustic for CKY fans hoping for another Infiltrate Destroy Rebuild. Other than that the record does somewhat suffer from becoming a bit samey as from start to finish it's full throttle brutality without any real segways or quiet complexities to give it a more creative edge. These criticisms aside the technical virtuosity of the musicians involved and Deron's passion for the genre shines through making this an intriguing listen for those with a taste for the more extreme side of metal.

Overall this is a rather accomplished effort all round. Whilst some of the harsher sounds might alienate one part of the bands demographic the whole album works as a mildly successful testament to following creative impulses. Whilst the "Death Metal" on display here may seem tame to a seasoned veteran of the genre I can't help but think this would be an ample stepping stone for any metal head looking to dabble his toe into the pool of extreme metal. Whilst the album is unlikely to get the publicity it deserves it's deffinately worth tracking down if you can. Recommended.

Download: "God Among The Waste" "Dead But Still In Pain"