Band:	Torchbearer
Album:	Yersinia Pestis
Style:	Blackened death metal, Thrash metal
Release date:	March 22, 2004
A review by:	Undercraft

01. Assail The Creation
02. Sown Are The Seeds Of Death
03. Dead Children, Black Rats
04. Faith Bled Dry
05. Bearer Of The Torch
06. Pest Cometh
07. Far Advanced Closure
08. Thus Came Dying Unto Kaffa
09. Shorespread God
10. Failure's Dawn

Yersinia pestis is the causative agent of bubonic and pneumonic plague, which has caused widespread loss of human life during recurrent pandemics, like the The Black Death (also The Bubonic Plague and more recently The Black Plague), that was a devastating epidemic in Europe in the 14th century which is estimated to have killed about a third of the population.

Yersinia Pestis is also the debut album of Torchbearer, a band born from the collaboration of members from Unmoored, Satarial, Setherial, Incapacity among others, the result? A headbanging feast which bring together the best of 3 genres: Thrash, Death and Black Metal.

The album has pros and contras, for example, the production is tight and crystal clear, the drumming and guitar work (riffing and soloing) is amazing also, in the other hand, the music is not all that original, and with that I mean, some of their compositions are too squared, no experimentation or new elements to make the music exciting and enticing to a broader audience.

Bur that doesn't mean that this awful, as a matter of fact is quite good, not too original, but damn good. Among some of my favorite songs are "Assail The Creation" Pest Cometh" and "Shorespread God" , three headbanging pieces that will make the delights af many of you that like brutal music.

So, in a nutshell, sometimes brutal, sometimes catchy, Torchbearer adds the exact amount of guitar soloing and blast beats to make a exquisite brew of genres.
Maybe they'll need to find the way to add some new elements to their compositions on their sophomore effort, because I can stand lack of creativity once (and that's because musicianship is good) , but twice is just plain unforgivable.