Salt The Wound

Kill The Crown

Written by: AP on 24/09/2011 14:28:14

As the age old proverb says, you cannot judge a book by its cover. But what you can most certainly do today is judge music by its album cover, album title, or the name of the band that wrote it. As such, there can be little doubt about Salt the Wound's third album "Kill the Crown": the band's name comes in indecipherable blood etched font, the album's title carries an anti-establishment and anti-religious undercurrent, and the album art contains macabre imagery lightened with a comic style; "Kill the Crown" is deathcore.

But while the word typically carries a negative connotation as a result of the huge number of cookie-cutter bands practicing the genre it attempts to describe, one should not immediately be put off by it. There are a number of very decent deathcore bands with genuine talent at their disposal; bands that refute the fashionistas flooding the genre as much as everyone else, playing deathcore because it happens to be their calling. One can always distinguish these bands among the horde as the ones to do things a little bit differently, or with slightly more conviction, and Salt the Wound is one of them.

Why? The generous use of memorable riffs and melodies, and the sparse use of breakdowns, pig squeals and chugging. In this context the eponymous instrumental intro piece is somewhat misleading, promising sterile extremity en masse, but once the brilliant "To the Top" picks up the pace, it is difficult not to be convinced. It features a killer staccato riff that pays homage to At the Gates as its backbone and a sufficient variety of vocal techniques ranging from gruff All Shall Perish type growls to troubling shrieks à la The Black Dahlia Murder. Speaking of which: the sound of Salt the Wound is perhaps best imagined as akin to The Black Dahlia Murder, had they favored melodic death metal over black metal as their primary influence.

Another album highlight, "Why Don't You Have a Seat" sounds especially gratifying in that on it Salt the Wound take the awesome riffing of Parkway Drive, strip it from the countless unnecessary breakdowns, and append to it a touch of death metal, very much in the vein of As Blood Runs Black. But while those bands settle for common stock and resist variety at all costs, Salt the Wound manage to structure their album in such a way that despite featuring riffs that are hardly the height of innovation, each song consistently sounds diverse enough to sustain the listener's interest: the early In Flames-sounding "Cash on Delivery" and the excellent riff parade and brooding outro of "Breathless" are especially enticing.

Still, even though "Kill the Crown" elevates Salt the Wound above the vast majority of deathcore bands today, it brings little new to the profusely catered deathcore table. Armed with sterile production and a solid repertoire of riffs, Salt the Wound manage to inject much needed variety into a largely soulless genre, but play it too safe to deserve consideration as true pioneers.

7

Download: To the Top, Why Don't You Have a Seat, Cash on Delivery, Breathless
For the fans of: As Blood Runs Black, The Black Dahlia Murder, Parkway Drive
Listen: Myspace

Release date 28.03.2011
Rotten Records

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