ssmarcus Death and extreme metal acts and their fans are used to enduring ignorant plebs and establishment music critics shilling for a paycheck calling the genres "noise" unworthy of their respect, let alone attention. Of course most of these morons couldn't actually give you a working definition or heuristic for differentiating music from noise. When pressed to provide one, you'll usually hear an entirely non-musical explanation like, "yOu CaN'T EVen heAr thE LyRIcs!!!"

With that said, I would imagine it is less common for actual fans of death and extreme metal to level the noise accusation at acts within the genre no matter how much they may not like a specific act of record. But alas, here I am, perfectly confident in my assessment that Brand of Sacrafice and their latest record, Lifeblood is more noise than it is music.

The experience I had listening to this record is similar to what I experience when trying to tune my car radio to a specific station but, owing to my movement or location, find my sound oscillating back and forth between two clashing stations vying for dominance over the same frequency. One channel is playing generic deathcore circa 2011 while the other is running commercials or electronic music. The broadcasts fade in and out of each other creating an insufferable experience warranting turning off the radio altogether.

Most upsetting of all is this band's meteoric rise to prominence within the last 3 years. This trend is sure to spawn more clones and the proliferation of this unique brand of "noisecore." And in response, all I can do is stand ready with more 1 star reviews.