International death metal outfit (UK, Germany, Netherlands) have released two previous full lengths of horror based metal but this here short sharp EP I guess is a happy little Halloween film tie in which I got to a little late.
With a title like Slash N Roll I was hoping for a kinda free-wheeling take on death metal and opener ‘Maniac’ does kinda hit that. Up tempo and a nice punky loose feel to it, it barrels through the tale of the film in a bouncy but still oddly reined in manner. Pretty cool though all the same.
‘Halloween’ uses a little keyboard run from the film soundtrack, a nice low slow riff intro, but sadly then gets stuck into a fairly generic death groove of up tempo then slow beatdown and repeat. ‘The Thing’ is kinda the same. It is actually a pretty good slice of mid paced, groove death metal but it doesn’t exactly conjure up the film to me; far too straightforward for the paranoid insanity of the film.
This is rounded out with two punk covers. First up the Misfits ‘Skulls’ which is pretty good. It doesn’t cut loose like you want but the keyboards add a neat touch and atmosphere and the vocals vary up a bit. The Ramones ‘Pet Sematary’ though has none of the low slung vibe of the original and the vocals really don’t work here for me at all, turning a strange pop/punk/metal hybrid into a restrained death metal song.
Ah well. It’s hard. The original songs are very nicely played and produced but only ‘Maniac’ really has the energy to make me smile. The covers are ok as far as they go but they… Well too in control for me. Both originals are fun, energetic runs but here are tied down a bit too much. Not bad, just add nothing for me. Sorry.
Its ok. It’s a nice Halloween snack but having spent a fair bit of the season listening to Misfits I think it isn’t my Halloween.
(6/10 Gizmo)
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