With Abandon

As of the starting of this review, I've only heard one song, so this is going to be pretty crude where reviews are concerned, but I really dug what I heard starting at "It's Mercy, Compassion, and Forgiveness I lack, not rationality" (sick video). The song started out, and I was expecting something near death metal, no such luck.  With Abandon is a deathcore band, and they do an admirable job with a genre that is widely regarded to suck as a whole. They've got the progressive, almost bright sounding sound that suffokation has, but then go in a much more metal, more engaging route. I counted two "breakdowns". Guitar work is advanced, and the drums are much more substantial and involved than garden variety deathcore drumming. Riffs are not chugging, so much as machine gun rapid  fire strumming. By the way, the breakdowns? They don't feel stale, and they work well.

Upon opening and listening to the songs on the EP, what I found wasn't quite as stellar, rather than boring you with a long description, the breakdowns were a little more prominent, and it wasn't quite as fresh, but no pig squeals! Usually the breakdowns kicked the songs off, which, IMO, is a really effective way to use them because it maximizes the impact. Frustratingly enough, With Abandon didn't complete rid itself of bad vocal tendencies and continues with the synchronized shouting. By the way, the vocals aren't particularly great, but in their genre, they work.

With Abandon certainly hasn't convinced me deathcore deserves to be accepted by the metal community, but they provide a fresh take on a stale genre, and it feels much more "metal" than any of the other Carnifex crap that the deathcore bands have been chruning out lately.

8/10

You can find their ep for free at this link - http://www.maturation.withabandon.de/mp3.zip

Provided courtesy of the band on Santa Muerte's myspace page.