So when you think Alabama death metal instantly pops into your mind right? Yea me either, but Mainstay is from Alabama, and they are certainly Death metal...there is no "Core" here.
This is a 4 track CD that includes one instrumental, so let's face it you get 3 songs, being as the instrumental "Fall Like Fire" which is track 4 is more of a musical outro for the album. This track never fully blossoms into a full fledged song, it's just some acoustic guitar, which is nice, but shouldn't have been a track by itself.
So now we are down to three songs. The opening of the CD may be the best intro I've ever heard. I don't know where they got this piece but you hear the hammer on nails and the tortured screams. Then you hear the thief speak to Jesus and Jesus reply "Today you will be with me in paradise" the bass rumbles in and "Mainframe," track one pounds the crap out of you.
Thick guttural death growls are traded off with higher shrieks once in awhile on this CD, both are pulled off really good. The shocking thing about this CD is that it's a 4-track recording. It says so right on the back of the CD, but had it not been for that statement I would not have believed it. This sound much better than most of the 4-track stuff I've heard. Clean and clear almost all the way through. Sure there are some problems and you can't really pass this off as a super high quality release but once again someone did a good job with a 4-track, and I'm always shocked cause it doesn't happen all the time.
This one is certainly for the mid-paced death heads out there.
7/10
