END OF ALL - The Art of Decadence CD

Abba aside, End Of All encompasses all the best parts of Scandinavian hardcore/metal. If you liked their first album “Same Shit But Different” you’re going to love this one. And for those of you who haven’t been graced by the auditory enlightenment that is End Of All, think Skitsystem meets Wolfbrigade/Wolfpack meets At The Gates. Every song on this album works on multiple levels. The first track “The Age of the Serpents” blew me away. It starts off with a dark and melodic acoustic intro, then explodes into a melodic Swedish death metal intro, picks up the pace into a more crustcore progression, then splatters your eardrums with classic hardcore riffing. But I don’t want to spoil it all. The production on this record is absolutely perfect. Thick guitars, a well blended bass, drums that don’t completely overwhelm the smaller nuances of the riffs. As for the song writing, the rhythm sections are simple, but in the sense that each chord has been hand selected above all others, and when coupled with the leads creates a brutal yet melodic wall of sound. Even a lot of the verse riffs have a layered rhythm/lead articulation that reminds me of Wolfpack’s “Counterpain,” but with vocals over the lead parts. Think about it. Throw in some death metal leads during the bridges and you’ve one hell of a wallop. On top of that, End Of All has some of the best vocals I’ve ever heard. Along the lines of old Disfear crossed with Wolfpack. Brutal, abrasive, but sustained. The drums help separate End Of All from every other Swedish style crustcore band out there. It’s not d-beat through and through, displaying that they do not shy away from experimenting with different styles and at the same time letting that Swedish metal influence show its head via a different medium. This essentially puts the icing on an album that will not be leaving my cd player for a long time. Buy this album, listen to it every day for a month, and every time you listen to it you’ll find something new you missed last time. It’s that good. (Bones)