One of the more well known extreme metal bands from Mexico is Lament.
The band originally started out on Rowe Productions and this is their first release. The band was originally known as
Beheaded and this release, Tears of a Leper, is some really good, brutal death metal. The guitar work on this
album is pretty technical and melodic and the band shows that they aren't just about blasting and grinding their way
at 90 mph from start to finish. While they can speed things up, the band usually stays mid-paced, just plodding and
pounding their way through song after song. What they also do to set themselves apart is that they put a huge reliance
on the bass guitar and they also utilize the acoustic guitar on a lot of songs. While all of this sounds well and good,
for some reason many of the songs tend to sound similar as the album goes along. This may be one instance where
the band made the album way too long. Just listening to one or two songs on this album is great, but a complete listen
is something I have a hard time doing. Besides that though, the band has some chops. Marco Perez' vocals
have that sick, low gutteral growl that you've come to expect from death metal bands. And he performs
them terrifically. There are also some spoken lyrics occasionally with some being in Spanish and some in English.
This album was produced by guitar legend Jeff Scheetz. He even assisted
the band with some keyboard work and guitar solos. The cover artwork is really cool and was the subject of controversy
when it was released for some unknown, probably stupid, reason. Production is good, although the drums could have a
little more power behind them as sometimes they sound a little puny. And the lyrical content is very Christ centered
and well-written. And the few songs that are sung in Spanish, the band gives the English translation.
Pretty decent album overall and an album that is still pretty easy to
find at most of your online music sources. (Review by Matt)
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