Review: Etched In Stone- Emulate The Defiler (2011)

Band: Etched In Stone

Release: Emulate The Defiler

Genre: Death Metal

Members: Brian, Eric, Ryan, Adam

Label: Unsigned

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/EtchedInStoneMusic

Tracklist:

1. Emulate The Defiler

2. Prophet Of Descention

3. Dirge Of Dimitri

4. Vispag The Annihilator

5. The Locust Storm

6. The Martyr

7. An Enigmatic Response

8. Death Ends Red

9. The End Result

10. Birth Of Unknown

Review: 8.6/10

Etched In Stone is a band from Modesto, CA that are represented by the excellent Rebel Pyro Management. The first thing you will notice from the record “Emulate The Defiler” is that it’s no standard, generic death metal album. For a band that haven’t really broken through yet, they are surprisingly well polished, talented that isn’t your everyday run of the mill local band.

“Prophet of Descention” starts off with an eerie soundscape, like you’re trapped in a cave with water dripping around you and some sort of robot-like background noise, before shredding the guitars and pounding drums. I think that this track resembles Deicide in a lot of ways, most notably in the tempo of the overall song. The vocals here are quite exceptional for a band I’ve never heard of before. The drums keep the timing just right and the guitars hit every note perfectly.

“The Locust Storm” is just soaked in heaviness. This song is the breadwinner of the album, and if this band ever gets signed, will be a death metal anthem. It’s at a moderate speed, the kind where it’s really heavy, yet doesn’t sacrifice any of the heaviness in the process. I can literally see blood being spilled while this song plays. I feel that this song also has some black metal influence in the song structure, most notable at the 3:18 mark and beyond.

“An Enigmatic Response” is a death metal song that crosses over into progressive, almost spazztic territory by showing song compositions that I’ve never really heard before. The beginning is a truck of instrumental noise that obliterates everything in its path, heads into fast-slow-fast with lyrics, then goes into a spazz number before it really starts sounding like a death metal track. The rest of the song doesn’t really expose these aspects again, then around the 2:53 mark it heads into a bass and guitar solo outro that is merely something different to throw in at the last minute.

“The End Result” starts off with an acoustic guitar that really gives it away as its function as the calm before the storm. Although it is pulled off quite well. The track itself is slow and heavy, just how I like my women. The best word used to describe this is pummeling, although I am aware I have already used that word once. It’s not too technical, unlike most of the album, but is still awesome nonetheless.

Overall, I think that this band is quite capable to bring it to the masses, all they need is some label interest. I would love to see these guys live as soon as they are off of hiatus sometime in November.