Band:	Razorshape
Album:	Live With It
Style:	Death 'N' Roll
Release date:	June 2007

01. Mediocrity
02. Justice
03. Eradication Of Self Consciousness
04. Out Of Space
05. The Neverending Cyclical Loop
06. Before The Assault
07. Dead Amongst The Deadz
08. In Dirt
09. Live With It
10. Down There

Instead of starting with a lengthy introduction about the history of the band and how the bandname and the ugly artwork of the promo - a cowboy sticking out what looks like an extra long and massive tongue - made me think of just another gore band, I'll paste the band's own words. Yes I am lazy. So, this is what they have to say about themselves: "With influences such as Pantera, Soundgarden or Testament, Razorshape is obviously not willing to innovate into the world of metal music by adding destructured rythmics or other experimental nonsense to its art. Razorshape is all about sound, groove, and renewal of classical or oldschool metal music elements." Add Entombed and Exodus to the influences, and that shall do it.

As you may have gathered by now, Razorshape actually delivers thrashy death'n'roll with a serious sense of groove. Think Testament's Demonic is getting laid by Pantera's Vulgar Display Of Power, while Entombed's Same Difference is watching. The album is chockfull with cool groovy riffs and great hooks. The first five songs are models of what you want to do if you're willing to record great death'n'roll tracks. The headbanging factor is ever present in the first half of the album, be it due to the rolling riffs of "Mediocrity" (now that is an awesome opening track), the fat Exodus filthiness of "Justice" or the dissonance of "Out Of Space". The production is really close to that of bands such as Entombed or Dismember, i.e. muddy, dirty and bluesy and absolutely brilliant for that kind of music.

Another good point is the vocals: without him being the most amazing singer around, Benjamin DLJ's screams and growls are varied enough to be interesting from the first to the last second. The rhythm section needs also be mentioned, as a lot of the groove comes from it. The drums are especially amazing.

Unfortunately, this album has a strong tendency to eat its tail: after the first five songs, Razorshape sound like they are just repeating the same formula over and over again. The second half of the album does not seem to bring anything new. I can't really say the last songs are bad, but they're just a bit tedious, especially after the first half of the album being so cool. The riffs sound too much alike, the vocal lines are slightly less inspired, and all that kind of takes away the interest of the listener.

This is definitely not the album of the year, but the first five songs make up for the rest of the album. Live With It is actually pretty good for what it is: a nice, not overly pretentious album meant to be headbanged to. Razorshape are not quite there, but they definitely have a lot of potential. I for one will be following their next deliveries with genuine interest.