ZEALOTRY — The Charnel Expanse (review)

ZEALOTRY — The Charnel Expanse album cover Album · 2013 · Death Metal Buy this album from MMA partners
3.5/5 ·
UMUR
"The Charnel Expanse" is the debut full-length studio album by US, Boston, Massachusetts based death metal act Zealotry. The album was self-released in June 2013. "The Charnel Expanse" is both available as digital download and in physical CD format.

Stylistically the music on "The Charnel Expanse" is technically well played death metal of the more brutal kind. Because of the use of dissonance and the twisted riffing style I´m almost immediately reminded of Immolation and to a lesser extent Incantation. So this is definitely down the more chaotic, murky, and dark death metal path. The band are really well playing and obviously master both their instruments and the compositional characteristics of the genre. The vocals are a bit too one-dimensionally growling. They sound brutal and "evil" like they should, but there isn´t enough variation or aggression in the delivery. They don´t spoil the listening experience but they don´t add anything especially interesting to it either. They are just there. This is not unusual for death metal releases, and as such not a major issue, but it is an element in the band´s sound that could be improved upon...

...another is the sound production, which lacks a bit of punch and bite. When that is said the music still hits the listener with enough power for this not to become a major issue either. So all in all "The Charnel Expanse" is quite a great listen if you enjoy this type of technically well played, dissonant, and chaotic death metal even though the band still have a way to go before they enter the big league. They certainly have both the compositional qualities and the high level musicianship at their disposal to reach that goal. A more powerful sound production and slightly more aggressive vocals would probably be enough to do the trick. A 3.5 star (70%) rating is deserved.
Share this review
more

Review Comments

Post a public comment below | Send private message to the reviewer
Please login to post a shout
No shouts posted yet. Be the first member to do so above!

Review Index

Member Zone

Username:
Password:
Stay signed in

Metal Subgenres

Artists Alpha-index

MMA TOP 5 Metal ALBUMS

Rating by members, ranked by custom algorithm
Albums with 30 ratings and more
Master of Puppets Thrash Metal
METALLICA
Buy this album from our partners
Paranoid Heavy Metal
BLACK SABBATH
Buy this album from our partners
Moving Pictures Hard Rock
RUSH
Buy this album from our partners
Powerslave NWoBHM
IRON MAIDEN
Buy this album from our partners
Rising Heavy Metal
RAINBOW
Buy this album from our partners

New Metal Artists

New Metal Releases

Rot Stink Rip Death Metal
TOMBSTONER
Buy this album from MMA partners
Human Rosin Melodic Metalcore
HATE BREEDER
Buy this album from MMA partners
Through The Hell Hardcore Punk
ENEMY 906
Buy this album from MMA partners
Lightmatter: Rebirth Deathcore
EARTHGAZER
Buy this album from MMA partners
Eye Of Horus (Lightmatter EP Pt. 2) Deathcore
EARTHGAZER
Buy this album from MMA partners
More new releases

New Metal Online Videos

Agremorta - Adrocitas (Official Lyric Video)
AGREMORTA
Bosh66· 5 days ago
Agremorta - Ploratus Umbra (Official Lyric Video)
AGREMORTA
Bosh66· 5 days ago
Agremorta - Vertex Membrana (Official Lyric Video)
AGREMORTA
Bosh66· 5 days ago
HAIL SPIRIT NOIR - The Temple Of Curved Space (Official Track Stream)
HAIL SPIRIT NOIR
adg211288· 5 days ago
In Sulfur - The Gate (OFFICIAL VIDEO) 2022
IN SULFUR
Bosh66· 6 days ago
More videos

New MMA Metal Forum Topics

More in the forums

New Site interactions

More...

Latest Metal News

members-submitted

More in the forums

Social Media

Follow us
Follow us on Twitter Become a Facebook fan RSS Feed