Band:	5 Star Grave
Album:	Corpse Breed Syndrome
Style:	Melodic death metal
Release date:	2009

01. Ain't That Saint
02. In Bed With the Dead
03. Slightly Slutty Behaviour
04. Cut You Out
05. Core Dead
06. Miracle Man
07. Back to the Morgue
08. Triple-X Ride
09. Backstabber
10. Crown Of Worms
11. Violands

Corpse Breed Syndrome is the first album of 5 Star Grave a new combo which comes from Italy. It's not so trendy anymore to try to do some In Flames music and the few bands who still want to produce something similar try at least to add new things in their compositions. This is obviously good things but it doesn't mean that it's a real revolution anyway... Without being horrible this is hard to find convincing new releases in this category, maybe that we just have touched the point of saturation after all?

Corpse Breed Syndrome is a new album which tries to follow In Flames musical spirit. However the guys of 5 Star Grave had the good idea to enhance "this" music with new original additions. Here more than the riffs and the melodies, this is little additional sounds (like violins) and the voice of the singer which create the whole difference. And if the idea is not bad at all, I have some problems with the result. Sure the songs can be catchy on a side, but they're monotonous and repetitive in the genre. The whole melodies are just too similar to what we have already seen? Also I simply cannot stand the voice of the singer which is tortured as hell and could be assimilated to the ones that we can find with some Horror Punk bands. This is not a bad idea but here, and maybe that it's just a problem for me actually, this is absolutely irritating. All in all if you take some classic Gothenburg Death Metal, add some electronic sounds a la In Flames (including some originalities like the electronic violins on "Slightly Slutty Behaviour") plus these whinny vocals, you can understand how Corpse Breed Syndrome sounds. This is not horrible, with good ideas but not so convincing too?

5 Star Grave is not bad band in my opinion but they need to improve their compositions and it should come with time and maturity. I mean that the band has already tried to be original and they just missed the goal because the songs are just too repetitive in the end. But this first album is not cataclysmic and the production and the performances of the musicians (if you like the voice of the singer of course) are ok.

I don't really know what to add with Corpse Breed Syndrome, this is not bad but not convincing too and I will wait a future album to give a final statement for this band. If they cannot do something deeper, I'm afraid that we will quickly forget this band but if they manage to keep those good new ideas and find a way to write catchier songs it should pass. Time will tell, just have a look at Corpse Breed Syndrome is you need to discover a new Gothenburg Death Metal combo but remember that despite their promising first album, the best still have to come.