One of the better bands to emerge from the underground, Hecatomb (not to be confused with the Brazilian band with the same moniker) is a quartet coming from the land of the annual Milwaukee Metalfest. Melody is the name of the game here. In their flyer, they say that they draw inspiration from the likes of In Flames, Death, Iron Maiden, Iced Earth and the godly Dissection. With those kinds of influences, how could you go wrong?! You guessed it right, although Hecatomb is from the U.S., their music is based on the European sound. A lot of the piercing staccato guitar riffs which made Sweden famous are all here, the twin-g Maidenish leads, the controlled Dissection-esque blast beats and the higher register vocals are what basically makes Hecatomb.

Three songs are featured on the demo, "Dead Sea", "Hecatomb" and "Cosmic Dance" respectively. "Dead Sea" quickly starts off with a solo and then the vocals enter with a speed metal riff. Then things slow down with another solo, then a new riff, which sounds a lot like "Fade to Black". After the break, the pace picks up again with more melodic interludes and so on. Nothing here is boring because everything changes so fast but very, very smoothly. Plus, the leads are just ear candies. They really put a lot of work in the songwriting department. The twin guitars are their best element of course.

The two other songs are as good as the first one with all the great parts intact. The only thing I really didn't like was the bass solo on the middle of "Hecatomb". The solo feels like its going nowhere and sounds kinda out of tune, good thing the lead guitar saved the riff. Further improvement should be focused on that part. The third song pulls no punches and is a great last song. The bass this time is killer wherein it plays this very fast classical like riff along with the guitars. I really dug the outro as well. Soundwise, the production is clear but the drums are a little thin and so are the guitars. This is a great feat for a second demo though. But I think they need to focus more on the originality factor for them to really shine. For more info, you can contact the band through their email: Hecrophiliac@hotmail.com. To all the melodic metal buffs out there, you won't be disappointed with this one.

This review is credited to:
DEATHCRAYON