ROSE FUNERAL

It is not a question of ROSE FUNERAL's inability to write decent songs and play a fairly convincing form of modern down-tuned 'n chunky death metal. It is just that the continual aping of a beaten-to-death style makes it difficult to appreciate an album like "The Resting Sonata", if only because you've heard it so many times in the past.

ROSE FUNERAL is yet another band that reinterprets (and in the process, dramatically waters down) AT THE GATES' patented style and then mimics elements of THE BLACK DAHLIA MURDER and its army of adherents (KNIGHTS OF THE ABYSS, etc),while ending up closer to WHITECHAPEL. Is that such a bad thing? Only if you are OK with another vanilla shake made in the same blender. To their credit, the group scores points for a handful of songs that are unquestionably aggressive and, at times, dynamic; the occasional melody is well written too. That said, "The Resting Sonata" is exactly what one would expect and nothing more. It is filled to the brim with beefy riff chunks, melodic guitar lines, and cut-and-paste vocals that alternate between guttural lows and maniacal screams, as well as stop-start riffs and breakdowns. A keyboard-created atmospheric touch here and there does nothing to change any of that.

If this is a style that you live and breathe, then there is nothing here that will turn your smile upside down. Otherwise, if you want variation and/or a new take on the Americanized Swedecore approach, then you better look elsewhere. Drop "The Resting Sonata" in your MP3 player, ask a friend to name the band, and don't be surprised if he or she answers with three or four similar bands before you reveal that it is in fact Cincinnati's ROSE FUNERAL.