I wasn’t familiar with Cast The Stone, prior to this EP flying into my slot.
”Crap name” I thought but a bit of research and a read of the promo blurb clobbered me with the knowledge that the band is made up of former members of Misery Index, Cattle Decapitation & Scour so I figured this ought to be decent. The band have been about in one guise or another since 2002 and this EP is the follow up to their “Dark Winds Descending” album from 2005…… not exactly kicking the arse out of it are they?
First track “As The Dead Lie” starts off killer with a really chunky riff, Andrew Huskey’s throaty roar is great but the track starts meandering off into clever stop starty territory before coming back to where it should have stayed all along, pounding death metal.
Track 2 “The Burning Horizon” is some wafty progressive nonsense, sounds a bit Enslavedy a bit Dissectiony but a bit rubbishy too and Huskey’s vocals are at odds with the music here. Oh and it’s flong at over seven minutes!
“Standing In The Shadows” is next and NO it’s not a cover of the killer Dokken track but rather an indulgent three minute acoustic guitar solo. Now there’s nothing wrong with that as an idea I guess but on this six track EP it just puts the brakes on and seems all a bit pointless.
We’re back to business with “A Plague Of Light” which is the stand out track on this EP. Heads down, no nonsense storming death metal with a hint of Swede to it which is always much appreciated. The title track is next and is, to be honest a bit dull and generic with uninspired chuggy riffs and could have been a track from any number of modern death metal bands. The final track is a cover of Infestdead’s “Jesusatan” (no, me either). But this is a corker, straight forward punky & bouncy death metal and a really decent closer.
Production on the EP is handled by Dan Swanö and is obviously brilliant but on the whole there’s little that is memorable here so I find it difficult to recommend this EP.
(5/10 Mark Eve)
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