Band:	Stalwart
Album:	Manifest Of Refusal
Style:	Death metal, Thrash metal
Release date:	May 22, 2012
A review by:	Doc G.

01. The Karma Circle
02. Downgrade Evolution
03. Rise Of The Ninth Wave
04. Last Dawn of the Era
05. Corrosion
06. Idol Of The Time
07. It's Just My Choice
08. Manifest Of Refusal
09. Renaissance Through Devastation

Unbelievably vicious aggression executed through psychotic precision, why the fuck am I just finding out about Stalwart now?

Standing on the shoulders of giants is the name of the game here. Sure, Stalwart play a form of death metal that is noticeably similar to Decapitated, but somehow they managed to take it in their own direction. It's that pure visceral rage, teaming up with technical precision. Throw in a few deep grooves, which give off a hint of Behemoth from time to time, and you've got the overall idea of what this beast sounds like. Now, take that sound and add a fuck tonne of these off-kilter psychotic leads, what you're left with is a pretty cool sounding death metal album.

The problem lies in the fact that Stalwart seem to merely sound like their influences, but just with some extra bells & whistles. Sure, it is well executed, and yes, a lot of times it does sound better than their influences, but when it comes right down to it, there still isn't a whole lot of fresh sounding material here. You can eat the same type of sandwich for a week straight, then start throwing jalepenos on said sandwich on the 7th day, but your still eating the same sandwich.

Manifest Of Refusal is certainly a hell of a lot better than a large handful of death acts you've seen reviewed on here over the past little while. It's thoroughly enjoyable from start to finish, but will most likely lack the significant personality required to impress many people who aren't already death metal fanatics.