Fangtooth - Fangtooth review
| Band: | Fangtooth |
| Album: | Fangtooth |
| Style: | Doom metal |
| Release date: | March 28, 2011 |
| A review by: | BitterCOld |
01. The Eye Of God
02. Rise Again
03. Father
04. In Depths We Lie
05. Martyr
06. Cry Of The Nephilim
Well, Solitude Productions has sent me an embarrassment of riches. A lot of stuff I've enjoyed, and that has spurred my outburst of reviews this year. Sadly, Fangtooth don't live up to the standards set by the rest of the stack of disks they've sent my way.
Consider the rest the riches, this the embarrassment.
The band hail from Italy and play traditional doom metal... the likes of early Candlemass or Trouble. Doom, like most genres of metal, is guitar/riff driven. These guys do have riffs. Lots of good riffs can be found throughout this release. Not only are the riffs pretty freaking cool, the guitar tone is pretty groovy as well. They will rock you. So from that aspect they are doing well.
The problem is, well, it's been done before. Oh, and the guitarist seemingly went to the Kerry King Institute For People Who Don't Want To Solo In Key And Want To Riff And Do Other Guitar Stuff Good Too (our founder!). While his riffs and crunch are great, a good chunk of his solos are cringe-inducing. Nice chops, but some of the bends just seem horribly awkward. I'm partially deaf (tone and legitimate), so if it sounds off to me, the guitar nerds of you will likely find it way off.
The bassist and drummer do their jobs admirably, contributing to the groove and push of the riffing, and holding fort for the soli. If judged solely on jam-factor (minus solos), this would be a good album. However there is more to it than just jam.
Then we come to the vocals. I am not terribly sure, but I believe the gentleman is shooting for Messiah Marcolin here. Unfortunately it comes across as more Jello Biafra (Dead Kennedys to the uninitiated, and he was good for performance art... not good for, well, professional art). The vox are mediocre at best, to be polite. They make me long for the likes of a *cough* Lee Dorian *cough*. And they are down right disastrous at points when he attempts to kick it to King Diamond Falsetto Mode. Kudos to the dude for trying... but I learned my lesson and limited myself to Sinatra Karaoke years ago. There is a reason, as horrible a human being as I am, and as much as I dig the doom, I ain't fronting a doom band. I cannot get the job done.
When doomdance comes to doomshove, I'd score this album a full point and change better without the solos and vocals... Good riffs and jam, sadly made considerably less enjoyable by more than a fistful of cringe-worthy moments. Of course, opinions are like assholes... everyone has got one and mine is bigger than yours... other folks on other sites have scored this album much higher than I, so perhaps I missed the boat. If you dig trad doom, check it out and formulate your own take.
Rating breakdown
| Performance: | 6 |
| Songwriting: | 7 |
| Originality: | 5 |
| Production: | 6 |
 | Written on 02.05.2011 by BitterCOld has been officially reviewing albums for MetalStorm since 2009. |
Comments
Comments: 14
Visited by: 132 users
| NocturnalStalker Metal Addict Posts: 889  |
Thanks for the review! Traditional doom is pretty rare to come across nowadays so I'll take a chance and listen to this one. Then I can make my own opinion. 
---- "And we are not who we think we are We are who we're afraid to be" - Lux Occulta "The Opening of Eleventh Sephirah"
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| Marcel Hubregtse Grumpy Old Fuck Elite Posts: 40071  |
@Bitter, I am still surprised Solitude decided to officially release this demo. When I got the demo as freebie some time halfway down 2010 I listened to it a couple of times and remember having the same problems as you with it. So, imo, this is a spot on review. Written by NocturnalStalker on 02.05.2011 at 14:27 "Trad doom is pretty rare to come across nowadays" ?  I come across loads of it. I dare say it's even emerging and becoming more and more popular both with the number of bands releasing stuff and people listening to it.
---- Member of the true crusade against European Flower Metal Yesterday is dead and gone, tomorrow is out of sight Dawn Crosby (r.i.p.) 05.04.1963 - 15.12.1996 
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| NocturnalStalker Metal Addict Posts: 889 |
Written by Marcel Hubregtse on 02.05.2011 at 14:38 Maybe I'm not searching good enough then. At least, there wasn't any new band that caught my attention for I don't know how many years.
---- "And we are not who we think we are We are who we're afraid to be" - Lux Occulta "The Opening of Eleventh Sephirah"
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| BitterCOld The Ancient One Admin Posts: 15288  |
Written by NocturnalStalker on 02.05.2011 at 14:27 good on you. just because i didn't like it doesn't mean you or others won't.
---- get the fuck off my lawn. Beer Bug Virus Spotify Playlist crafted by Nikarg and I. Feel free to tune in and add some pertinent metal tunes!
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| Jan Posts: 247  |
Written by NocturnalStalker on 02.05.2011 at 14:48 I think you forgot to search at all - these last years have been somwhat a golden era of traditional doom - loads of high quality bands putting out awesome albums. Here's some bands you could/should check out if you are looking for quality doom: Argus Procession Pale Divine Forsaken Dark Covenant The Lamp of Thoth Las Cruces Lord Vicar Black Pyramid Age of Taurus (You probably know some of them.)
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| NocturnalStalker Metal Addict Posts: 889 |
Written by Jan on 02.05.2011 at 21:59 Maybe you're right. Thanks for the list. I'll be sure to check out the bands you mentioned. I listened to Procession and Forsaken and I think they are good but not satisfying enough for my taste. Maybe my standards are just too high.
---- "And we are not who we think we are We are who we're afraid to be" - Lux Occulta "The Opening of Eleventh Sephirah"
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| Marcel Hubregtse Grumpy Old Fuck Elite Posts: 40071 |
Written by Jan on 02.05.2011 at 21:59 Of course there's also Griftegard Gallow God The Gates Of Slumber (not really new but then again neither are Las Cruces) Altar Of Oblivion Capilla Ardiente Atlantean Kodex (semi doom) Sinister Realm (semi doom) Hour Of 13 Seamount Ereb Altor Well Of Souls Realmbuilder Arkham Witch etc etc
---- Member of the true crusade against European Flower Metal Yesterday is dead and gone, tomorrow is out of sight Dawn Crosby (r.i.p.) 05.04.1963 - 15.12.1996
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| Marcel Hubregtse Grumpy Old Fuck Elite Posts: 40071 |
Written by NocturnalStalker on 02.05.2011 at 22:16 If those two don't satisfy your taste in trad/epic doom then sure as hell Fangtooth won't either. I wonder what you consider up to your standard in that trad/epic department for you to dismiss Procession and Forsaken not up to standard. 
---- Member of the true crusade against European Flower Metal Yesterday is dead and gone, tomorrow is out of sight Dawn Crosby (r.i.p.) 05.04.1963 - 15.12.1996
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| NocturnalStalker Metal Addict Posts: 889 |
Written by Marcel Hubregtse on 02.05.2011 at 22:20 I'm waiting for the next "Nightfall". 
---- "And we are not who we think we are We are who we're afraid to be" - Lux Occulta "The Opening of Eleventh Sephirah"
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| NocturnalStalker Metal Addict Posts: 889 |
Written by Marcel Hubregtse on 02.05.2011 at 22:18 Oh, thanks a lot for the list, Marcel! I kinda forgot about Griftegård. I really enjoyed their full-length. The Gates Of Slumber isn't really my cup of tea. Ereb Altor were recommended to me as a really good band but I've yet to check them out. The other bands will come to my "to listen to" list.
---- "And we are not who we think we are We are who we're afraid to be" - Lux Occulta "The Opening of Eleventh Sephirah"
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| NocturnalStalker Metal Addict Posts: 889 |
Well, it's time to stop going off-topic and give my sincere opinion regarding this album. I'm glad I haven't dismissed it after reading the review. It is strange but I kinda liked this album. It sounds pretty generic but nice. Speaking of the solos... I'm a guitar player myself and I don't see any problem with bends. The only thing that disturbs me is that they tend to get a bit random at times and there is too much shredding for my liking. On contrary, the solo in "Father" is quite nice. I wish there were more solos like that on an album. As for the vocals... I didn't get an impression that the vocalist tried to challenge Mr. Marcolin. On contrary, it seems to me he knows his limits well and just occasionally get too excited and tries to get a note higher than he should. Vocal manner kinda reminded me of Tristitia. Don't know why... Other than that, the vocals sound a bit plain but at least they don't spoil the impression from the music.I think i would rate this album as high as 6.5 or even 7.0. They still need to polish things here and there but they have a potential to become a good second echelon doom metal band, as I see it.
---- "And we are not who we think we are We are who we're afraid to be" - Lux Occulta "The Opening of Eleventh Sephirah"
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| Merchant of Doom Posts: 702  |
Written by Marcel Hubregtse on 02.05.2011 at 14:38 There's definitely too much around these days...
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| Marcel Hubregtse Grumpy Old Fuck Elite Posts: 40071 |
Written by Merchant of Doom on 03.05.2011 at 16:44 Disagree,. imo there's too much second and thrid rate extreme doom (especially funral doom) around these Don't get me wrong I love extreme doom.
---- Member of the true crusade against European Flower Metal Yesterday is dead and gone, tomorrow is out of sight Dawn Crosby (r.i.p.) 05.04.1963 - 15.12.1996
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| Merchant of Doom Posts: 702 |
Written by Marcel Hubregtse on 03.05.2011 at 16:59 matter of taste, I suppose... I'd rather have second rate extreme doom than second rate trad... To be honest, I think there's been a major influx of stoner/trad stuff recently, and I'm boooored of it!
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