Paths Of Possession - The End Of The Hour

\r\nPaths of Possession are from Tampa, Florida, they play death metal but what’s more important they have a famous growler in their ranks, Cannibal Corpse’s frontman George Fisher, a.k.a Corpsegrinder. While the new album "The End of the Hour" was once again produced by the widely known and esteemed Erik Rutan (Hate Eternal, Cannibal Corpse, Six Feet Under, Vital Remains). "The End of the Hour" as the band itself writes in their Myspace Page "is a concept album about the surreal horrors that one man experiences during war, death and the beyond that warps his very existence into a demigod-like awareness that may have the ability to consume life as we know it. Although a themed album, "The End of the Hour" was built with songs intended to stand on their own."\r\n

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\r\nPaths of Possession’s musical style is slow to mid paced death metal and the persistent melody carried by the guitar lines is rather embellishes the overall output with a clear melodic Swedish sound although you still can hear some Death or even Benediction and Bolt Thrower grips. Definitely I don’t see any Cannibal Corpse influence here. While there is also some strong thrash feeling at times in the vein of late Carcass’ releases. The guitars are thick and crispy with interesting riffs, the percussion is nothing extraordinary with archetypal patterns and some occasional blastbeats but due to the great production the distinctive audibility of the bass lines bestows the rhythm section with a more established rhythmic pulse and a cogent harmonic foundation. Proceeding to Corpsegrinder’s vocals, well I think there is need to mention that he is the superior personage here. His voice is in a somewhat higher range than the more downtuned growls that usually outline his Cannibal Corpse achievements but that doesn’t mean also that he denies his lower, voluminous pitches giving a broader variation to his overall performance. While the bassist Randy Butman offers some tasteful backing vocals as well.\r\n

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\r\nOverall, this album contains a very competent old-school death metal with a powerful songwriting and a beautiful blend between melody and heavy grooveness.\r\n

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\r\nVaso Prassa \r\n

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\r\nPaths of Possession - The End of the Hour - live\r\n

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