CoC : Gorefest - La Muerte : Review

Gorefest - _La Muerte_
(Nuclear Blast, 2005)
by: Jackie Smit (7.5 out of 10)

With the slew of reunions and comebacks still showing no signs of coming to an end anytime soon, one has to wonder where Gorefest fit into the grand scheme of things. After all, unlike Obituary or Exodus, they hardly broke any new ground, nor indeed boast a back catalogue of bona fide classics. Sure, _Mindloss_, _False_ and _Erase_ had their moments, but by the time they played out with the experimental, prog rock befuddled _Chapter 13_ very few punters seemed to bat an eyelid. Rather unsurprisingly though, Nuclear Blast is touting _La Muerte_ as if it were metal's second coming -- and to be fair, the first half of the record is actually very good. Jan-Chris De Koeyer's vocal delivery may sound understandably rusty, but Ed Warby's ability to pen a decent death metal tune, if anything, has distilled into something quite deadly. Six songs in however, and the well of ideas has very clearly started to dry up, with the quartet again exploring, albeit to a lesser extent, the same tawdry nonsense that made their erstwhile swansong so completely disposable. It's hardly out of character for the band, although Jan Chris' attempt at clean vocals on the dying moments "Rogue State" is a uniquely disturbing passage, but ultimately _La Muerte_ is not quite the album that you'd expect to hear from one of death metal's supposed greats.

Contact: http://www.gorefest.nl

(article published 17/10/2005)

ALBUMS
27/7/2007	J Smit	8	Gorefest - Rise to Ruin
18/4/1996	G Filicetti	7	Gorefest - Soul Survivor