Martriden

S/T

Candlelight Records 2007

Out of the vast wastes of the American state of Montana comes the new 4 song, 25 minute EP from new American superstars of extreme music, namely Martriden.  These guys, having been supposedly isolated from the rest of the American scene, should have developed an individual style and sound and brought it to ultimate fruition on this recording.  However what I find is a young band caught in limbo between sensibilities of death metal and black metal but without really excelling too much with either.  In other words Martriden's music is sort of generic though they do attempt to show they are decently wide spread in their influences and musicianship with their use of melodic guitar leads and keyboards and acoustic guitars.  And the range of moods and styles is large as is evidenced on the opener Blank Eye Stare as it constantly winds from blasting death, to more emotional doomy passages and acoustic musings.  The Art of Death Infernal displays their penchant for penning snappy death metal rhythms as it stomps through skulls into more contemplative and keyboard tinged passages.  Another thing I cannot stand is when an issue is made of who has produced an album (Dave Otero) as if this is some sort of indication of how good the music itself is on the album.  It is not.  Given some time and touring experience these guys have the potential to develop into something special.  However as it stand currently I see nothing on this release that helps these guys stand above the multitude of other bands out there attempting similar styles.