Band:	Rose Funeral
Album:	Gates Of Punishment
Style:	Technical deathcore
Release date:	September 27, 2011
A review by:	Doc G.

01. Legions Of Ruination
02. Grotesque Mutilation
03. Beyond The Entombed
04. False Divine
05. Arise Infernal Existence
06. Malignant Amour
07. A Recreant Canticle
08. The Desolate Form
09. Entercism
10. Amidst Gehenna
11. Gates Of Punishment

It's all boring now, it really is. Drown any genre in enough forgettable bands and it loses it's impact. Rose Funeral play that clean, sharp-edged death metal. From what I've gathered, this band used to lean closer to the deathcore side of things - they should have stayed that way, I can't imagine it being any more unremarkable than this. Let's just put it this way; even if you haven't actually heard Gates Of Punishment before, you've heard it before.

Really, this band just lacks any identity, put this next to any number of bands and tell me the difference, it's tough. There is nothing that stands out whatsoever - it's got that squeeky-clean clear production already being overused by bands with a big enough studio budget, and the riffs are rarely anything to write home about. The only thing that sets Rose Funeral apart from the other 9000 bands doing the exact same thing, and only then by an insignificant degree, is the interludes that occasionally pop up. Interesting interludes you ask? Nope. A few seconds of acoustic or orchestral bits then it's back to business as usual. The latter half of the album has a bit of catchy, albeit equally unremarkable melodies tossed in here and there, but at that point, nothing can really save this album.

To be fair, the band has immense amounts of skill, they just suck at not sounding horribly generic. Hell, if I had never laid my ears upon death metal before, I might be a little impressed. Taken at face value, I suppose you could even go as far as saying this band is somewhat decent. The fact remains though, you can go through any metal website, or any metal label roster and find dozens of bands that sound indistinguishable from Rose Funeral.

It has it's moments, few as they are. Those who are comfortable with bland modern death metal will probably find immense enjoyment in this.