Rose Funeral - Gates of Punishment
Rose Funeral is a world renowned deathcore band from the USA, but before I go on any further, strap yourself in because Gates of Punishment could easily be their most impressive release yet. I might sound a little bit like an underground metal elitist but many would agree that it’s very hard to find bands mainstream nowadays pushing the limits of their respective genres because it seems like all the activity in happening underground. But we must ask ourselves, how did these bands become mainstream in the first place? There are the bands that became popular in the deathcore scene by accident and there are those who actually worked to get to where they are now. Rose Funeral might have started out a little rough in Crucify.Kill.Rot. but I think that Gates of Punishment makes up for their blunder in so many ways. This is an unbelievable good album and I don’t think words can fully describe how excellent this album is.
First of all, Rose Funeral have come a long way since their debut release Crucify.Kill.Rot. They were stale, slow, generic deathcore but geez have they turned that around since then. The music now has so much power and torque behind it, it almost seems impossible to dislike this album.
The first thing that is noticed about this album is the drumming, the high paced, high energy, flawless drumming. There is just something about the drumming that makes it sound so seductive than many other bands. It’s probably because pitch and tone of the drumming is absolutely perfect and its clean and crisp. I don’t know what makes some deathcore bands think that having a poor quality recording of drumming is good way to make the atmosphere sound dark and heavy. This is just dumb as far as I’m concerned because there are bands out there who achieve this with high quality recording and If I were to talk to those bands who think this, I’d show them this album and tell them to learn from their superiors (like Rose Funeral). The drumming here in this album literally blasts everything other known band out of the water and while on the topic of blasting stuff, the blast beats here are amazing. You know when people say “speed isn’t everything” when it comes to blast beats, well these guys have both now. The blast beats and double kicks are super fast and super organised, there are times where I could swear that I was listening to Fleshgod Apocalypse.
The guitars work in this album are top notch as well, there aren’t many guitarists that can play as fast as the drumming at times. I mean there are a few bands that come mind when people talking about speedy guitar work and they all come from the technical death metal genre. Well, Rose Funeral isn’t a technical death metal band but they are the few deathcore bands that can keep up with that type of pace without creating an unco-ordinated wad of sound. The guitar riffs here sound a lot like Fleshgod Apocalypse in many ways but I would no way say that they are cheap rip-offs of them. The way Rose Funeral have applied these riffs are completely different that Fleshgod Apocalypse giving them a different character. Also you’d expect there to be many high pitch tabs to be played, if I said that there is none, I’d be lying, but there aren’t as many as what is found elsewhere. I don’t know how people react to this, but I find that there is less confusion within the music without or less which is never a bad thing. There is just one more thing to point out about the guitars and that’s the solos. Deathcore isn’t exactly known for the best guitar solos and although Rose Funeral hasn’t created the fastest most insane guitar solos, they have sparked emotion through their progressive approach. Which I think is much more important than anything else.
Although the progressive elements aren’t the main attraction in Gates of Punishment they do have a major impact on their sound and the emotions of their music in particular. Occasionally there are some progressive style riffs that come along throughout this album which is easily distinguishable from the more technical ones but when they some you’ll know about them. For some reason, there is just some kind of overwhelming power behind the progressive style riffs and guitar solos. It seems so uplifting that it’s the very thing that could make someone’s day and those kinds of guitar riffs seem like a dying breed so you might as well listen to it while it’s still around.
There aren’t many bands out there anymore especially in the mainstream scene that write half decent breakdowns. They probably think, “Hey, my band already had 500,000 likes on facebook, I can just write shit music from now on.” Well, Rose Funeral are one of the most infamous bands out there on the scene as of yet and their breakdowns are still going strong. Back in their first album, their breakdowns weren’t very good; they were dry, stale and unheavy. But once again, Gates of Punishment has pulled another surprise out of the bag. The breakdowns are absolutely amazing, they are slow but heavy and they are well written and perfectly executed. This is something that is rare to find in mainstream bands nowadays, it’s good to have a change sometimes and it’s even better to have a change for the better.
Even the vocals in this album are something different and unlike the vocals in their older music, these vocals are nowhere near as generic. The best thing that I like about the vocals here is that they are just perfect. I don’t mean to bash any other bands out there but it’s just that Rose Funeral does it better than everyone else because they don’t just try to scream has much distorted and incoherent sounds as possible. Rose Funeral has done the smart thing, the vocals here are still distorted but the words are still very clear. You could make out every single word that is in this album, but at the same time, they match the speed pace and heaviness of the music which is just awesome.
I don’t think that Gates of Punishment has any flaws in it whatsoever, the music is; fast, brutal, heavy, emotional, organised/melodic and emotional. They have really outdone themselves tenfold this time and not only that, they have blitzed the competition as well. Although there are a few signs that they are slowly drifting away from the deathcore genre and into more of a death metal sound, I still consider them a deathcore band. Mainly because they still sound more core than death and the roots are still very evident. I recommend Gates of Punishment to anyone remotely into deathcore and death metal and especially to anyone who enjoys listening to Fleshgod Apocalypse. When it comes to recommending tracks from this album, I say try them all but if you don’t have the time check out the track The Desolate Form, it’s just awesome. Many people have thought and still think that there is no such thing as a perfect deathcore album, this might have proven these critics wrong and puts other mainstream bands in their place. Everyone should be ready because Rose Funeral is on the rise. I definitely think that Rose Funeral’s Gates of Punishment is worth a 20/20, it’s just amazing.
First of all, Rose Funeral have come a long way since their debut release Crucify.Kill.Rot. They were stale, slow, generic deathcore but geez have they turned that around since then. The music now has so much power and torque behind it, it almost seems impossible to dislike this album.
The first thing that is noticed about this album is the drumming, the high paced, high energy, flawless drumming. There is just something about the drumming that makes it sound so seductive than many other bands. It’s probably because pitch and tone of the drumming is absolutely perfect and its clean and crisp. I don’t know what makes some deathcore bands think that having a poor quality recording of drumming is good way to make the atmosphere sound dark and heavy. This is just dumb as far as I’m concerned because there are bands out there who achieve this with high quality recording and If I were to talk to those bands who think this, I’d show them this album and tell them to learn from their superiors (like Rose Funeral). The drumming here in this album literally blasts everything other known band out of the water and while on the topic of blasting stuff, the blast beats here are amazing. You know when people say “speed isn’t everything” when it comes to blast beats, well these guys have both now. The blast beats and double kicks are super fast and super organised, there are times where I could swear that I was listening to Fleshgod Apocalypse.
The guitars work in this album are top notch as well, there aren’t many guitarists that can play as fast as the drumming at times. I mean there are a few bands that come mind when people talking about speedy guitar work and they all come from the technical death metal genre. Well, Rose Funeral isn’t a technical death metal band but they are the few deathcore bands that can keep up with that type of pace without creating an unco-ordinated wad of sound. The guitar riffs here sound a lot like Fleshgod Apocalypse in many ways but I would no way say that they are cheap rip-offs of them. The way Rose Funeral have applied these riffs are completely different that Fleshgod Apocalypse giving them a different character. Also you’d expect there to be many high pitch tabs to be played, if I said that there is none, I’d be lying, but there aren’t as many as what is found elsewhere. I don’t know how people react to this, but I find that there is less confusion within the music without or less which is never a bad thing. There is just one more thing to point out about the guitars and that’s the solos. Deathcore isn’t exactly known for the best guitar solos and although Rose Funeral hasn’t created the fastest most insane guitar solos, they have sparked emotion through their progressive approach. Which I think is much more important than anything else.
Although the progressive elements aren’t the main attraction in Gates of Punishment they do have a major impact on their sound and the emotions of their music in particular. Occasionally there are some progressive style riffs that come along throughout this album which is easily distinguishable from the more technical ones but when they some you’ll know about them. For some reason, there is just some kind of overwhelming power behind the progressive style riffs and guitar solos. It seems so uplifting that it’s the very thing that could make someone’s day and those kinds of guitar riffs seem like a dying breed so you might as well listen to it while it’s still around.
There aren’t many bands out there anymore especially in the mainstream scene that write half decent breakdowns. They probably think, “Hey, my band already had 500,000 likes on facebook, I can just write shit music from now on.” Well, Rose Funeral are one of the most infamous bands out there on the scene as of yet and their breakdowns are still going strong. Back in their first album, their breakdowns weren’t very good; they were dry, stale and unheavy. But once again, Gates of Punishment has pulled another surprise out of the bag. The breakdowns are absolutely amazing, they are slow but heavy and they are well written and perfectly executed. This is something that is rare to find in mainstream bands nowadays, it’s good to have a change sometimes and it’s even better to have a change for the better.
Even the vocals in this album are something different and unlike the vocals in their older music, these vocals are nowhere near as generic. The best thing that I like about the vocals here is that they are just perfect. I don’t mean to bash any other bands out there but it’s just that Rose Funeral does it better than everyone else because they don’t just try to scream has much distorted and incoherent sounds as possible. Rose Funeral has done the smart thing, the vocals here are still distorted but the words are still very clear. You could make out every single word that is in this album, but at the same time, they match the speed pace and heaviness of the music which is just awesome.
I don’t think that Gates of Punishment has any flaws in it whatsoever, the music is; fast, brutal, heavy, emotional, organised/melodic and emotional. They have really outdone themselves tenfold this time and not only that, they have blitzed the competition as well. Although there are a few signs that they are slowly drifting away from the deathcore genre and into more of a death metal sound, I still consider them a deathcore band. Mainly because they still sound more core than death and the roots are still very evident. I recommend Gates of Punishment to anyone remotely into deathcore and death metal and especially to anyone who enjoys listening to Fleshgod Apocalypse. When it comes to recommending tracks from this album, I say try them all but if you don’t have the time check out the track The Desolate Form, it’s just awesome. Many people have thought and still think that there is no such thing as a perfect deathcore album, this might have proven these critics wrong and puts other mainstream bands in their place. Everyone should be ready because Rose Funeral is on the rise. I definitely think that Rose Funeral’s Gates of Punishment is worth a 20/20, it’s just amazing.
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