CoC : Scent of Flesh - Valor of Hatred : Review

Scent of Flesh - _Valor of Hatred_
(Firebox, 2004)
by: Pedro Azevedo (6 out of 10)

_Valor of Hatred_ is a rather unusual release in the relatively short history of Firebox Records: this is straightforward brutal death metal, whereas the vast majority of their releases so far had at least a considerable doom metal component. It is a competent album as far as its genre is concerned, with plenty of steady, hard-hitting blast beats and breaks, busy riffing and standard death grunts. Scent of Flesh are a very competent act, but when you're playing such a tired genre you really need to be something special, which at the moment they're not. This is an album you can play, enjoy for its metallic energy, but end up remembering nary a riff: it's fun, but generic and forgettable. The album simply lacks strong stand-out tracks, with "Descent to Dark Clarity" virtually the only real candidate. Ultimately _Valor of Hatred_ is pretty much doomed to obscurity, in spite of being a fun album to play a couple of times, having some eye-catching cover art and boasting a song called "Suicidal Cannibalism".

Contact: http://www.firebox.fi

(article published 19/6/2004)