Review Summary: Famine does exactly what an EP is suppose to do, give you a taste of what’s to come while also leaving you wanting more.
“God is the guy that ignores you.”
South Carolina's From Graves of Valor is comprised of three former members of
Through the Eyes of the Dead, Jeff Springs, Richard Turbeville, and Dayton Cantley. With the three TTEOTD members are Vocalist Damon Weich and Bass player David Hasselbring. From Graves of Valor stepped into the studio, in the winter of 2006, with renowned metal production wizard, Jamie King, and created
Famine, their debut EP. While some may label this “Deathcore,” due to 3/5 of the band is from “Deathcore” Through the Eyes of the Dead or due to them being the dumbest scene “HxC” kid who wants to hardcore dance to any music they can, this is pure death metal.
Famine was released on September 11th on Tragic Hero Records after being pushed back a few times for unknown reasons, the EP was already done. So did the album measure up to the hype surrounding this EP?
Right off the bat you can truly tell that Damon has really poured all that he could into the vocals as he does not let down on his growls for clean singing that a lot of other metal bands do right now. On the Track
The Burning you can really get a feel of Damon’s Range as he goes from his death growl to a hybrid Cleanly Death growl back to his death growl. What is unique about Damon’s vocals is he can pull off the hybrid vocals while still sounding intense, see
Hunger Artist. One grip I have about this EP is that you cannot hear the bass whatsoever. I really do not understand why bands do not showcase the bass anymore.
What the do showcase though is the guitars, and rightfully so with two of the three members from TTEOTD holding down the front. The riffs fit the songs really well, and there are a quite few good leads here and there. Their not really able to showcase that much in a six song EP but they do their best and even throw in a solo here and there, see
After the Awakening. The best solo is found on the track
The Burning They do dive into the new fade of having breakdowns, but their actually good and fit into the songs really well.
The drummer, who is the third member from TTEOTD, really knows how to blaze through the double bass. He does a phenomenal job on the drums and really brings the whole package together in a nice little bowtie. In a live video on youtube, you can really see he is really pouring everything into his playing and you can tell that is the case on the EP also. He leaves nothing to desire while also wanting more, but guess we have to wait until they record a full-length for more.
Famine does exactly what an EP is suppose to do, give you a taste of what’s to come while also leaving you wanting more. So did
Famine prove all the hype right? I say it does while already starting the hype for their debut full-length album. Rich and the guys of From Graves of Valor will no doubt try to make their full-length even better then this EP, but will it or have they set the bar too high from them to even pass it? We will find out hopefully soon enough, barring Tragic Hero pushing it back to 2020 or something.
4.5/5
