While melodic death metal may have experienced its heyday long ago at this point, there’s still something captivating about bands that do it right. We’ve already encountered excellent new material from Arch Enemy and Insomnium, and for those “in the know,” you’ve already chalked up Existence Asunder into this year’s short list of must-have melodic death metal and if you haven’t, read on.
With a very European sound in check, Washington D.C.’s Terracide made their mark last year with the three song EP Primordium (recently featured in one of our Sifting Through Bandcamp pieces). Those three tracks are featured here on Existence Asunder, along with seven fresh cuts that are sure to unleash anyone’s inner melodic death fan. With a high-octane formula of melodic death metal meets power metal, Terracide keeps things moving at a speedy tempo while firing off explosive choruses and solos. The choruses frequently revolve around some more unique-sounding clean vocals that lean much further towards power metal than most melodeath bands that reach towards the more mainstream cleans.
The one-two opening of “Mirrorborn” and “Existence Asunder” should be enough to bring out the wow factor. The feature that catches the ear equally as often as the massive choruses is that of the riffs. There is much owed to In Flames (The Jester Race/Whoracle days), NWOBHM, and newer bands such as Into Eternity and Scar Symmetry yet they manage to weave their own magic onto it, making songs like “When Roses Bleed” (which also features some opening piano) and “Halo Delusion” instantly infectious.
While it may seem to be ‘by the book’ in regards to the “how to checklist” of playing melodic death, Existence Asunder is a very promising start-up for Terracide. Completely living up to the high expectations set by Primoridium, Terracide seems more than ready to get the call to step up to the big leagues.