But Corpse Garden isn't afraid to experiment with old school death metal, and the result of those experiments is quite interesting. It adds a lot of atmosphere to the whole. In fact, these instruments often appear in the intermezzos between the songs. In a way they remind of me Nile, but with a minimal and less symphonic approach. Other bands that often come to mind, of course, are death metal deities like Morbid Angel, Six Feet Under and so on.
So yes, we're in for an excellent piece of death metal, complete with guttural growls, high speed drums and crushing guitars. These guys clearly know what they're doing and they sure possess a decent sense of songwriting. 'Portal To The Oneiric' and 'Evoking A Dead Sun', among others, are awesome death metal songs which could please any fan of brutal music. Here and there some blackened elements are added in order to enhance the vile, sick and twisted atmosphere of the whole.
Together with these great piece of drone/ambient/ritual noise/whatever, the songs seem to tell some kind of story. It's not a pretty story and I don't think it has a happy end. However, it is a very interesting and a very intense one. One with a lot of variation and some brilliant additions to the death metal genre as a whole. I recommend this album to anyone who has at least three death metal classics on his shelves. This might not be a classic (yet) but it surely shows a new direction for the genre...
Serge