All Shall Perish - This Is Where It Ends
Nuclear Blast
Deathcore
12 songs (53:24)
Release year: 2011
All Shall Perish, Nuclear Blast
Reviewed by Khelek

I first heard these guys probably about 6 years ago, several years after their debut album Hate, Malice, Revenge came out. It was an excellent album that combined all the good parts of brutal death metal with a very small hardcore/melodic influence. Obviously these influences have become more apparent in successive albums, but I always felt it never took away from the brutality and in-your-face quality of their music. So here we have the latest effort from these guys, who have gained quite a few fans of the past 7 years or so. I can safely say that fans of the band will not be disappointed, and anyone who enjoys a good brutal death metal inspired album, and doesn't mind the occasional breakdown or melodic chorus, should definitely pick this up.

Similar to the bands previous album Awaken The Dreamers, the guitar work has really been stepped up once again, courtesy of new lead guitarist Francesco Artusato, which is what first catches my attention on the first track Divine Illusion. It's a pretty solid song that lets you know just what you're in for in this album: fast, heavy guitars and basslines, guttural growls, and relentless drumming. Sometimes the bass gets a little overpowering in the mix, but overall not a bad start to the album. In There Is Nothing Left you really start to see that this album is trying to get back that in-your-face, take no prisoners mindset that was admittedly a bigger part of the band pre-Awaken the Dreamers. This song does have a somewhat melodic chorus and its share of little breakdowns, but it blends so well with the slashing guitar riffs and fast tempo that it doesn't take away from the energy of the song. This song reminds me somewhat of Stigma, another excellent deathcore band. Procession Of Ashes is a little cliche in both lyrics and melody, which is a bit disappointing. The vocals remain the standard higher pitched growl, which is growing a bit tired for me. There is some good guitar work, but the song is simply too repetitive and monotonous apart from that to be really interesting. Fortunately A Pure Evil comes in next, ready to destroy everything. The disembodied screams and bellowing growls are backed by heavy guitar and bass, with the occasional guitar lick slicing through. I don't see how anyone can listen to this song and not want to headbang. Embrace The Curse and Spineless take similar approaches, but are a bit more stripped down, taking things back to the basics of death metal, although I do find myself wishing that Hernan Hermida’s vocals were stronger here. There are a few more slower songs after this, The Past Will Haunt Us Both and Rebirth, which are both nods to melodeath and metalcore, sounding like they could have been influenced by recent Darkest Hour.

You can tell that most of these songs are designed to really get a crowd to move to the music, which I can't say I blame them for; it's got to be a hell of a lot of fun to perform and to experience them from the audience. However, this album is a bit less varied than Awaken The Dreamers. It's simply not as interesting, and the album as a whole can definitely tend to drag on, which isn't surprising after 12 tracks and nearly an hour. But at the end of the day I don't care a whole lot about that, and my only real complaint remains that Hermida's vocals simply don't cut it at times; he sometimes sounds like a screaming adolescent boy instead of a death metal vocalist (which, at least judging by his performance on their first album, he has the ability to be). This album is not designed to be the next deathcore masterpiece, or to really push the boundaries of the genre, and I don't have a problem with that. It's designed to get people excited, to create a sense of anger and urgency, with a touch of futility and hopelessness at times, through well-played music. It may not be the most original sounding material out there, but I think these guys have accomplished that goal.

Killing Songs :
Divine Illusion, A Pure Evil, Spineless
Khelek quoted 77 / 100
Other albums by All Shall Perish that we have reviewed:
All Shall Perish - Awaken The Dreamers reviewed by Khelek and quoted 87 / 100
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