J-Man When it comes to new and underground death metal acts, originality is a hard thing to find. Coming across young death metal bands with tons of energy and talent isn't too difficult, but finding one that sounds different than the thousands of bands in competition can be a bit of a challenge. Although Unbidden has some black metal influences in their music, Slaughtering the Vile isn't something that even casual death metal fans haven't heard before. The lack of originality doesn't completely diminish the experience, however. Unbidden's debut EP is an extremely heavy effort that I often found irresistible - the excellent musicianship helped add to my enjoyment. This is undoubtedly fun to listen to, but Unbidden will have to do a bit better than that if they want to be recognized. This EP shows a lot of promise for Unbidden (despite a few flaws), but a more original approach is essential to the band's future.

The music here is old school death metal with some black metal touches. High-pitched black metal snarls are occasionally used in Unbidden's music and add some nice variation. The deep, guttural death metal vocals are usually a bit out of tune and don't sound that great. It's not a huge complaint, but it's worth noting that the vocals could use a bit of work for their next release. My favorite song on Slaughtering the Vile is the superb "Cast the Stone", which features some excellent guitar soloing and amazing drumming. The somewhat epic "Visceral Cadaverine" is also noteworthy with its hypnotic acoustic outro. The other songs aren't nearly as memorable, but still enjoyable nonetheless. The best thing about Unbidden is definitely the drumming from Dale Landry - his technical capabilities are truly admirable. For a self-released debut effort, the production here sounds pretty great as well.

Slaughtering the Vile didn't blow me away or anything like that, but it's a promising start for this young Canadian act. Unbidden has tons of assets, but the general lack of memorable songwriting (with a few exceptions) and a derivative style drags down most of my enjoyment. If the band hones in on their songwriting skills and makes a more distinct sound, I could definitely see this band going somewhere. For this decent, but far from essential, EP I'll go with 2.5-3 stars. For a free legal download, it may be worth a shot for death metal fans.