Title: THE UNDEAD FAMILY - El En Silencio
Description: THE UNDEAD FAMILY - El En Silencio
Description: THE UNDEAD FAMILY - El En Silencio
metal4life - October 9, 2009 05:30 PM (GMT)
THE UNDEAD FAMILY
El En Silencio
The Undead Family is a totally unknown band to me and I approached this with an inquisitive mind, although having read the promo sheet I had some idea what to expect of course. In any case on first play this is rather a strange album and that's mainly due to the fact that it is sung completely in their native Spanish. I should qualify the 'sung' part by saying it's actually growled in a low rumbling voice similar to early Paradise Lost. It's quite odd hearing growls in a foreign language, not that it really makes much difference to the music on offer as when bands use growls, it is just seen as an instrument in itself and doesn't carry the melody and therefore doesn't make an impact for the worse on the music so to speak.
Categorising The Undead Family is not so easy to tell the truth but I must try. Perhaps Stoner Death Rock with classic metal elements is a fair byline for these guys. The sound of the music is based around rumbling death and roll riffs with melodic lead embellishments which add that classic touch. Actually those parts remind me of very early Paradise Lost again for some reason but at a much more primitive level.
Unfortunately the production seems to lack a little in the finesse department being quite earthy and raw to match the raw growls which maybe their aim so I shouldn't complain on that count. The Stoner elements mainly substantiate themselves in the midpaced gargantuan riffing but I wouldn't call them a complete Stoner band by any stretch as they have many other elements within the songs including even funereal keyboards as backing to a number of the songs on offer which adds a sort of morose air to the proceedings. Track 6 starts off with a midpaced funereal riff with clean female vocals before the growls return and adds a nice change to the song. The melody in the main guitar lines once again reminds me of very old Paradise Lost but not nearly as good of course.
There doesn't seem to be anything special about The Undead Family on this album that makes me perk up and thing good things about it. It meanders from song to song, inoffensively it must be said, but maybe some would say metal should be offensive so there lies the problem. Not that I'm an advocate of aggression over quality because I definitely am not. I favour song-writing and tunefulness above all other aspects when it comes to metal and whilst The Undead Family are an ok band, this is rather a bland, pedestrian death rock album with some reasonable melodies here and there but nothing that warrants repeat plays.
The best thing about the album is the somewhat classical sounding lead lines placed over the rumbling midpaced riffs. Other than that it is a rather comatose affair that fails to deliver the KO punch I seek. Given time the band could improve a fair bit and make a decent album but there's a long way to go and I'm hard pressed to think of many metalheads who would give the band the time of day in this day an age when you have to impress the listener almost immediately otherwise you head straight to the recycle bin!
© Pirage Forsi
Rating **1/2 (2.5/5.0)
Buy at Amazon
El En Silencio
The Undead Family is a totally unknown band to me and I approached this with an inquisitive mind, although having read the promo sheet I had some idea what to expect of course. In any case on first play this is rather a strange album and that's mainly due to the fact that it is sung completely in their native Spanish. I should qualify the 'sung' part by saying it's actually growled in a low rumbling voice similar to early Paradise Lost. It's quite odd hearing growls in a foreign language, not that it really makes much difference to the music on offer as when bands use growls, it is just seen as an instrument in itself and doesn't carry the melody and therefore doesn't make an impact for the worse on the music so to speak.
Categorising The Undead Family is not so easy to tell the truth but I must try. Perhaps Stoner Death Rock with classic metal elements is a fair byline for these guys. The sound of the music is based around rumbling death and roll riffs with melodic lead embellishments which add that classic touch. Actually those parts remind me of very early Paradise Lost again for some reason but at a much more primitive level.
Unfortunately the production seems to lack a little in the finesse department being quite earthy and raw to match the raw growls which maybe their aim so I shouldn't complain on that count. The Stoner elements mainly substantiate themselves in the midpaced gargantuan riffing but I wouldn't call them a complete Stoner band by any stretch as they have many other elements within the songs including even funereal keyboards as backing to a number of the songs on offer which adds a sort of morose air to the proceedings. Track 6 starts off with a midpaced funereal riff with clean female vocals before the growls return and adds a nice change to the song. The melody in the main guitar lines once again reminds me of very old Paradise Lost but not nearly as good of course.
There doesn't seem to be anything special about The Undead Family on this album that makes me perk up and thing good things about it. It meanders from song to song, inoffensively it must be said, but maybe some would say metal should be offensive so there lies the problem. Not that I'm an advocate of aggression over quality because I definitely am not. I favour song-writing and tunefulness above all other aspects when it comes to metal and whilst The Undead Family are an ok band, this is rather a bland, pedestrian death rock album with some reasonable melodies here and there but nothing that warrants repeat plays.
The best thing about the album is the somewhat classical sounding lead lines placed over the rumbling midpaced riffs. Other than that it is a rather comatose affair that fails to deliver the KO punch I seek. Given time the band could improve a fair bit and make a decent album but there's a long way to go and I'm hard pressed to think of many metalheads who would give the band the time of day in this day an age when you have to impress the listener almost immediately otherwise you head straight to the recycle bin!
© Pirage Forsi
Rating **1/2 (2.5/5.0)
Buy at Amazon