A tearjerker for the wrong reasons.
"Redemption Through Rebellion" is the new album from death metal band Sister Kill Cycle, who hail from Tampa in Florida, USA.
Made up of vocalist Raven Chain, guitarist Mykill Mayhem, bassist VII and drummer Erock, you know exactly what you're in for the minute you pick up a Sister Kill Cycle album: the cover of "Redemption Through Rebellion", for example, depicts the bloodied faces of the band members, no tearjerkers here, then! Well, not for the usual reasons anyway...
I was disappointed that Sister Kill Cycle offered nothing new in their music; they sound just like any other stereotypical death metal band. The lyrics may as well be in Japanese as they are practically inaudible, the studio added effect on the vocals gets annoying very quickly and the instrumentals are a muddy mess that gave me a headache by the fourth track.
In all fairness, there were a couple of points on the album that get my seal of approval: I liked the guitar shredding when all the background fuzz was stripped away and I liked the occasional piano melodies; the contrast of the delicate melody over the powerful electronic noise was a welcome relief from the otherwise bland compositions.
Metal has a bad reputation, fact. It annoys me that many will judge the entire genre on the likes of Slipknot or Cradle of Filth when there's so much more to it than that; the likes of Conquest of Steel, Iron Maiden, Five Finger Death Punch and Sabaton immediately spring to mind. When metal is done right, it can be one of the most expressive and unrestrictive genres, but Sister Kill Cycle have played it way too safe and churned out the same old copycat garbage that the majority of faceless metal bands on the scene today are producing and unfortunately, they haven't done it very well. A massive disappointment that only goes to prove the metal critics right.
What more can I say about Sister Kill Cycle: if you like death metal, then it's a pretty safe bet that you'll like this album. If you like your bands to have a bit more individuality and originality, then this is probably not for you. Personally, I was glad when the album came to an end so I could file it away, never to see the light of day again.
Tip of the day; a little bit of originality goes a long, long way.