Dying of the Light - MONOLITHIUM EP

This will be the third metal act I've reviewed in the past week or so, and I'm not going to sit here and say that I'm sad by that fact, because Dying of the Light, a dual act from New Zealand, is quite good even though their production value can probably be increased. But, before I critique and praise alike, let me just give a little introduction to this act.

2009 saw the merging of Dying, attempting to forge their own path and create something nice and new to the world. They have stated that they've practiced a lot, experimented and refined themselves to the point of becoming a power duo. And, there is some truth to that statement; these guys have some talent.

And their first release, Monolithium, debuted in 2013, featuring three original tracks and a cover of alternative rock band Shihad's Factory. Now, as stated above, I will mention this once more; I noted that the production of the album wasn't the greatest thing on the planet. However, I think it does give the metal album quite a grimy feel to it. And that's something to be proud of in a metal band.

The title track strikes first on the EP, and takes a silent turn to begin with as two guitars slowly play through as the standalone base for the song. The drum work kicks and hits pretty nicely, even though it sorta sounds like someone's hitting the lid to a tin garbage can. The vocals start off fairly whispery, and is perhaps the highlight of the song. When the screaming comes in, or more or less more angry vocals, I can't say I liked it as much as I did the whispering vocals.

Tribulation begins off quite more angry, and remains sort of in the field of the title track. The low toned growls definitely are better than the shouting brought upon, and I kinda wished that the effects to the voice was gone. I feel as if the shouting is a bit more annoying with the added effects. Privatise The Sun came out alright, but was more of the same as I've been listening to since the first tracks. It's not terribly bad in any sense, for the music is good, but it was just a bit redundant.

The cover of Factory definitely brought the song straight to the harder side of rock, and it wasn't half bad. Gotta say that this song was rather impressive, and the drums in the song kinda rendered a sort of tribal drive to me, but that just might be an odd tinge in my head.

But, needless to say, after listening to this four track EP, I liked it. Not as much as I liked a lot else, but this is decent. There is definitely a lot of talent here, and given time, they might emerge with a wonderful album that shall make me drop my jaw. And, hell, their also looking for a label. So, if any label out there is looking for a metal act, you might want to take these guys into consideration. May 20 2014