TRACK LISTING

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*Comments:

1.  Weight of the World
2.  Cross Contamination
3.  Antarctica
4.  Irritating Spectre
5.  Termination
6.  Research and Destroy
7.  Road Dogs From Hell
8.  I See Demons

Total playing time:  36:28

Release Date: May 24th, 2011
Label: Prosthetic Records 

Book of Black Earth - The Cold Testament

Reviewer: Chris

August 25, 2011

Book of Black Earth is one of those bands I did a little research on before writing this piece, and I can honestly say that the sophomore jinx missed the mark by one album. From the band’s debut in The Feast into Horoskopus to the current The Cold Testament the lack of vision is severely evident. This rides the borders of absolute deathcore, nothing more.

Instead of taking the sonic visuals created on The Feast and running with that, the dense peripheral distractions of fame and trends are all over this album. Further, the minute I heard a LONG voice over during “Termination” I pretty much lost interest. I’m sick to my core of bands implementing these ridiculous, unnecessary devices in vain attempts to validate the message of the song. This isn’t a Spielberg movie; we can find our own way to the end, thanks. Play the music, let that stand on its merits or give up the ghost! Don’t assume the audience is stupid or steeped in surface intellect that we need further evidence of your lyrical intent.

Okay, as for the music (aside from my already obvious issues) it’s okay if you enjoy a ‘more-of-the-same’ feel to your deathcore. How this gets a ‘blackened death’ tag is beyond me, but okay...play fast and loose with the rules if you must. The drums are really the lowest common denominator throughout, often appearing uninspired and lackadaisical in spots. The vocals are oh-so-typical of what you’d hear in any mallcore band in any given state on any given day. It literally pains me to hear a band with such promise give in to pressures and trends, but it happens all too often these days. What might have been an otherwise empowering album is nothing more than a 15-year-old’s wet dream of ‘heavy metal’ to its most extreme point. I simply find nothing interesting or resonating here at all; some of the guitar riffs had promise but lending itself to such pretention is an unavoidable direction from the very onset. The “I See Demons” track is literally laughable at how pedestrian it begins and stagnates to a predictable degree on every level possible. These tracks are going to impress the youth, that’s for sure, yet it does not a damn thing for the true movement we so closely covet from disgustingly opaque influences like this.

I am not blowing smoke when I proclaim that this album is one of the most blueprint essays ever attached to heavy metal music and it pains me to think I wasted 35-minutes of my life having to find something positive to say about it so as not to totally defecate on it as a whole. Sadly, I can only compliment them on playing in tune and constructing music properly by design if nowhere near proper in integrity.