### Through The Eyes Of The Dead: Malice

#### 19/10/07 || Euthanatos

So who’s Through the Eyes of the Dead again? Oh, that’s right, another of these new American bands that always have the suffix core attached to them.

The onslaught of bandwagon bands in the States has been overwhelming as of late, and TTEOTD are one more to add to the bunch. Are they any good? Well, for one thing, they’re a lot more into death metal than their peers, so that’s a plus. They’re also horror/gore movie-inspired, so that also gets them at least some leverage to rise above the rest.

But what it all boils down to, always, is music. And I can safely tell you, this “Malice” album ain’t half-bad. Maybe it’s the influence from producer Erik Rutan, of Hate Eternal/Morbid Angel fame, but the death metal side of this band is really blatant on this album. And let’s face it, if you don’t like Death Metal, you’re just plain gay. Not that there’s anything wrong with that. People’s personal sexual preferences are nobody’s business but their own! (Who can guess where that’s from? Whoever gets it right gets an autographed dildo from Lord K. himself)

So, really, despite the band being always labeled in the something- core genre, death metal seems to be where their heart is at, and it really shows. “The Undead Parade” is 100% pure death, “To Wage a War“has a really cool faster riff which immediately reminded me of Morbid Angel. “Welcome to the Wasteland” has that old school feel to it which is quite nice.

Naturally, “Malice” is far from perfect. I really don’t care for the drum-sound in some places, sounding a bit too artificial to my ears, which is a shame. I really like the guitars and the vocals are amazing.

Oh yeah, and the last track is an homage to their inspiration, Morbid Angel, they cover “Dominate”. Nice job here too.

These young gents will certainly continue making a name for themselves in the metal world, especially since most of the contemporary acts suck balls. I think this can be moderately recommended, it’s good metal with definitely the right amount of older influence and minimal modern input. Let’s keep things that way, lads.

The cover: Weird looking shit, gore influenced, looks pretty eighties-ish, so that’s cool.

7 catastrophes of epic proportions out of 10.

- Information
- Released: 2007
- Label: Prosthetic Records
- Website: www.throughtheeyesofthedead.net
- Band
- Nate Johnson: vocals
- Justin Longshore: guitars
- Chris Anderson: guitars
- Jake Ososkie: bass
- Josh Kulick: drums

- Tracklist
- 01. Failure In The Flesh
- 02. The Undead Parade
- 03. To Wage A War
- 04. A Catastrophe of Epic Proportions
- 05. As Good As Dead
- 06. Welcome To The Wasteland
- 07. Malice
- 08. To The Ruins
- 09. Dead End Roads
- 10. Interlude
- 11. Pull The Trigger
- 12. Dominate