THE AUTUMN OFFERING

The tendency by many will be to take the lazy route and refer to THE AUTUMN OFFERING's "Embrace the Gutter" as metalcore. Why? Because the riffs of Tommy Church and Matt Johnson are chunky, the production is tight and modern, and Dennis Miller's vocals are gruff with a bit of bark? It certainly isn't because the album is laden with breakdowns and hardcore beats. Much like HIMSA, DEAD TO FALL, and even DARKEST HOUR, THE AUTUMN OFFERING is more heavy thrash with melodic elements, screaming guitar solos, and a balls-out delivery than any kind of hardcore-influenced album. It sounds like metal to me. So, yeah, the point… "Embrace the Gutter", the Daytona Beach, Florida' band's second…um…offering is a pretty darn good batch of ballsy metal tunes that is comfortably familiar, yet passionate and aggressive as hell.

And damn, do those guitars smoke! Johnson and Church crush, crunch, smash, and screech at every opportunity, and that includes soloing that will melt your face off. Drummer Nick Gelyon is equally adept at destroying his kick drums and firing off teeth-rattling fills. Not every track sticks in the brain, but there isn't a bum song in the bunch. As far as memorable melodies go, the title track wins hands down, thanks to a damn catchy chorus. On this particular cut the band shows that you can be melodic without resorting to emo crooning. Hey, for some bands, it's a formula that works just fine, but for THE AUTUMN OFFERING, it would appear that the boys have no use for clean vocal fucking about.

Aside from a well done mellow closing section (keyboards, etc) on the appropriately titled "The Final Cut", and the occasional light break (clean picking, etc) or arrangement changeup, the songs here make the point through massive riff tonnage, exceptionally strong guitar leads and melodies, and face-breaking rhythmic pummel. "Embrace the Gutter" will not end up a critical darling or a genre-defining gem. It is simply a tough and thrashy modern metal album…no more, no less.