Band:	As You Drown
Album:	Rat King
Style:	Death metal, Deathcore
Release date:	October 2011

01. Conqueror
02. Slaves To The Kingdom Of Fear
03. You Should Be Paranoid
04. Rabid Wolves In Sheep's Clothing
05. Your Loyal Betrayer
06. The Coming
07. The Nothing
08. Bleeding Structure
09. Cleansing Hands

Well, here we go again, more cookie cutter death metal. Sure, As You Drown is slightly less banally unexciting than a lot of boring death metal, but being minutely better than crap doesn't make Rat King album of the year by any stretch.

It's a shame really, because that is some fine-ass artwork, and a pretty cool album title. Lucky us though, what we get is another group of excellent musicians writing more generic death metal. In fact, as long as everyone is just copying + pasting things, I figure I could probably just slip my review for Rose Funeral's Gates Of Punishment in here and not a soul would be the wiser. I mean, if the bands aren't going to put an ounce of creativity into their music, why should I put an ounce of creativity into my reviews? It's only fair, really. I'm curious as to why labels sign bands like these - not meant as an insult, merely a question of itching curiosity - who the hell looks at a band like this and sees something that stands apart from the mass?

Ironically, you need to be a great musician to make generic death metal it seems. As You Drown definitely have that on their side, despite using those talents rather tastelessly. There's a few nifty riffs & grooves that make a dash for it, before being swiftly caught by the prison guards which are the generic aspects of this album.

Honestly, As You Drown is another band that is capable of awesome things, but prefers to pander to the crowds who will worship any old crap with harsh vocals and click track.