Review Summary: Postmortem Promises self-titled EP does nothing to advance deathcore and serves more as a replacement for over-the-counter sleep medication.
Postmortem Promises hail from Essex, United Kingdom. The band released one EP prior to this titled,
We Play Weddings, on January 9th, 2006. Postmortem Promises after two lineup changes on bass and guitar, released
Postmortem Promises on October 5th, 2007 via Thirty Days of Night. The band plans to release their debut album via Siege of Amida Records,
On Broken Foundations, on April 6th, 2010. The band's lineup is as follows...
Aaron Ketley - Vocals
Harry Baker - Guitar
Glen Ottley - Guitar
Elliot Stephenson - Bass
Randy McAlonan – Drums
Postmortem Promises features the vocal work of Aaron Ketley, a man described as having “impeccable range.” Ketley does in-fact have range, a lot of it actually. Throughout the album you'll hear the man use low pitched growls, high pitched screams and the occasional pig squeal; fairly standard for this genre. The problem with this being, he isn't that great at any of them and comes off as amateur. His entire vocal work is completely indistinguishable from any other non-popular deathcore band and this really pulls the entire EP down as a result. His squeals especially are unnecessary, and are absolutely awful. I'd honestly take the guy from
Waking The Cadaver over Ketley when it comes to squeals at least.
Instrumentally, Postmortem Promises keeps it safe and sticks to the generic chugging of their peers. The breakdowns lack any punch, the album is completely devoid of solos, the bass is no where to be found and the drums are just sort-of.. there. They really don't seem to stray much away from this formula throughout the entire EP, causing a major problem with repetition. However, they tend to use gang vocals as a way to dismantle the too-often heard formula in this genre, and honestly it doesn't help one bit. The gang vocals seem like a cheap novelty item, rather than something to actually re-invigorate the album's sound.
Postmortem Promises, while not necessarily awful, boasts an album devoid of any originality, technicality, and most importantly re-playability.
Recommended Tracks:
Slaughtered In Your Sleep
