Landmine Marathon - Sovereign Descent Review
Posted by Mac Scarle on 04.09.2010
The Arizona death metal band releases their fifth record. Does it stand out in an already crowded genre?
1.Exist
2.Shadows Fed To Tyrants
3.Foul Revolt
4.Cruel Policy
5.Justify The Suffering
6.Steadfast Hate
7.Chained By The Same Fate
8.Flood The Earth
9.Rise With The Tide
Sovereign Descent is the latest offering from Phoenix, Arizona's Landmine Marathon. Signed to Prosthetic Records, home of bands like Skeletonwitch, All That Remains and Kylesa, Landmine Marathon play a pretty standard version of modern death metal – not to say that that's a bad thing. Made up of vocalist Grace Perry, bassist Matt Martinez, drummer Mike Pohlmeier, and guitarists Dylan Thomas and Ryan Butler (former member of North Side Kings – I really hope that is as awesome so someone else out there as it was to me), they've been playing together since 2004, releasing their first of five records in 2006.
As has become my formula of sorts, it's time for the “full disclosure” segment of this review. So, here it is. Full disclosure: I almost never like hardcore or metal bands fronted by females. Unfair? Most definitely. Sexist? Yeah, probably. But it's just the truth. I've always given them a chance, and just never been into it. When I heard that this band was fronted by a woman (in case you didn't notice above, her name is indeed “Grace”) I was pretty much already set to write this off. Well, surprise of surprises, my probably-latently-misogynistic self has absolutely no qualms with Grace Perry's vocals. It's not screechy, which is excellent. It's also not so guttural to disguise the fact that it's a “she” rather than a “he,” which is also good. I would hesitate a very, very long time before I ever called female-fronted “aggressive” bands a novelty, but there's definitely a reason for making that lineup choice. You want people to know it's a woman singing, otherwise there really isn't a point, is there? I realize I'm not being as eloquent in phrasing that as I could be, but I'm sure you understand what I'm getting at. At least I hope so, because getting flamed is not fun.
Beyond that, what about the actual music on offer on Sovereign Descent? Well, it's definitely good. As I said before, the songs on this record are largely by-the-numbers modern thrashy death metal. I realize that that statement sounds like a bit of a backhanded compliment, but I have to say that I am a fan of death metal, and despite this record not bringing a whole lot (or anything, really) new to the table, I enjoyed it a pretty substantial amount. It never gets Meshuggah-style techy, it never gets Obituary or Death-style sludgy – pretty straight-ahead stuff, but what it does it does well. Rare is the record that I can sit and listen to all the way through, and I found myself able to sit through this record multiple times without really getting bored, which is an achievement unto itself.
Most importantly, there are no out-and-out bad songs on Sovereign Descent. At the very least, this is a solid death metal record. It isn't going to blow any minds, but it also isn't going to bore anyone to death. The record starts promisingly, with the charging track “Exist” which is (is this getting old yet?) a pretty solid-but-standard death metal track with almost modern hardcore-esque rhythm structures throughout the verses. The solo is “Exist” uses several termolo divebombs, which, if I'm being honest, is enough to sell me on it. The hardcore influence is noticeable on several other tracks, such as Foul Revolt as well. Maybe it's because Butler was in North Side Kings (seriously...awesome), maybe it's because every modern hardcore band loves to rip off Entombed and Bolt Thrower, but the crossover is definitely there. Not nearly enough to call this a metalcore record – or anything even close to it – but I definitely noticed.
My personal favorite moments on Sovereign Descent, though, are when Landmine Marathon choose to abandon the blast beats and fast-picked riffs and slow things down. My personal taste in death in death metal (Carcass, Death, Obituary, etc) tends to err towards the slower, sludgier end of the spectrum, and the moments where this record gets a bit dirge-y are definitely personal highlights. The seven-minute epic “Steadfast Hate” is a great example of this, as are moments of “Rise With The Tide,” "Steadfast Hate," “Cruel Policy” and “Justify The Suffering” (a song which, at times, had some very Carcass-styled riffs).
In the end, if you like death metal in its slightly more recent incarnation, you'll probably be into this record. Purists will no doubt find plenty of things to complain about (don't they always?) but for casual death metal fans like myself, it's a perfectly acceptable example of the genre as it stands in 2010. It's not super-tight, it's not crammed with polyrhythms or anything crazy like that, but it's by no means a boring record. The songwriting and musicianship is solid enough to make for an entertaining listen. Hell, I managed to listen to it about six times just while writing this and never got sick of it. If you like metal, give this one a try.
The 411: I struggled to come up with a numerical score for this one. It's a solid release, played by musicians who know what they're doing. Perry's vocals are backed up by a more than competent rhythm section, and it's definitely not a bad record by any means. But at the same time, Sovereign Descent doesn't really bring anything new to the table. But in the end, records are judged on more than just originality alone, and despite being a pretty standard death metal record, I couldn't find anything bad to say about this one. If you're into death metal, you should absolutely give this one a try. It won't jump out at you, but I bet it doesn't get deleted from your iPod, either.
