PREY FOR NOTHING - Violence Divine CD review

PREY FOR NOTHING - Violence Divine CD
Rusty Cage Records

Here is an extraordinary well crafted debut release for this Israeli Melodic Death Metal band. Not that there's anything groundbreaking enough to set it apart from other great bands of the genre past and present. It's just the execution of their playing and the talent shown from them on a first release. Even the really great ones from the past took two or three releases to sound this good. Chalk it up to lots of practicing or a smart professional turning the knobs in the studio. In the end the bottom line is that I like it and chances are you will too.

There are a number of things on Violence Divine which jump out at you. The first are the vocals by Yotam Avni. A number of Melodic Death Metal bands have singers with a wide range of vocal styles. Besides the growling there's the softer toned voice which many absolutely fail at and I just laugh. Not with Yotam Avni because aside from his more blackened tortured screams and throaty growls he tosses in normal vocals, although still harsh sounding, which emote an extreme amount of passion and pain. And if you look upon the subject matter within the songs on here you can understand why. Another point here is that PREY FOR NOTHING add slight Progressive Metal touches into their sound. Once again this is nothing new to the genre. But listening to guitarists Yaniv Aboudy and Eyal Glottman thread these elements into these songs is decent. At times they're overwhelming and obviously bombastic. Other instances are subtle which makes for a more interesting listen.

To be honest with you I have given up on a lot of Melodic Death Metal this year. You haven't seen many releases reviewed by me of that genre for a simple reason. Every new band follows the same worn template. There's far too many AT THE GATES wannabes farting around in studios with some high paid producer who's able to make them stars for a year or two. Yes this band did have genius Jacob Hansen producing Violence Divine. But to their credit PREY FOR NOTHING left the Melodic Death Metal template out in the parking lot and marched on their own beat. You all should know by now that I'm jaded and proud of it. But there's always an exception to my loose personal tastes. So as long as PREY FOR NOTHING can put out future releases which have staying power and interest, I'll be a fan.


http://www.rustycagerecords.com/