Review by Lawrence Stillman on October 27, 2024.

I randomly found this through random bands, might as well check it out. It says melodic death/doom so I was expecting something like StS or the Peaceville trio. While it is not quite their level of greatness, it is still enjoyable if you don't mind some imperfections here and there.

The album is quite a decent record; namely, the moderately long song lengths and low number of songs can give listeners a taste of what better death/doom records sound like. But what we can hear here still manages to deliver a sound full of sadness and yearning. What really surprised me here is the inclusion of shoegaze elements, making the songs sound even more dreamlike and giving the guitars extra feedback to create a droning feel. There are also some solely acoustic sections to break up the metal sections and give the listener a break, which is quite nice, but melodic death/doom albums already do this a lot.

The inclusion of clean vocals is nothing new to melodic death/doom but it is definitely less than your usual examples. It is mainly used in climactic sections where we expect an explosion in emotion and catharsis, while the rest of the vocals are harsh or have no vocals at all. I actually liked this approach more, as some melodic death/doom bands are gradually removing their harsh vocals, and it starts to feel like a melodic doom metal record instead of death/doom.

Instrumentally, everything feels like it should be. While it is not on the level of "When A Shadow..." when it comes to a clean production (because this was 2006), it is still very crisp, every instrument can be heard, and none is overpowering another. Besides that, the guitars' shoegaze-like effect in some songs really enhances the droning sound that melodic death/doom bands occasionally utilize. The bass is quite audible at times, but when the guitars kick in, it becomes an obscured presence again, just like the keyboards, albeit to a lesser extent. But the drums here are quite refreshing; they are done acoustically by a real person instead of a drum machine. It is quite rare for a solo project to feature real drums barring guest spots, so it is a plus for me.

This album is quite good for a run-of-the-mill melodic death/doom record. Come to think of it, I'm starting to prefer melodic death/doom over regular melodic death metal, outside of some exceptions. Guess doom metal is like the salt of metal music; everything is better with doom.

Highlights: 'Wings Of Darkness Attached On The Children Of The Light', 'Dead Air'

Rating: 8.3 out of 10

Review by Adam M on September 18, 2010.

This opens with a pretty classical influenced introduction and proceeds into a Death Metal showcase. The style is varied enough to avoid being generic and held together well by some solid performances. The structures have a lot of twists and turns throughout their length. There’s a combination of melodic and a punishing approach to give them a distinctive enough sound. There’s a Thrash influence to be found as well. Regardless, the band displays a ferocious mindset that is sometimes put into compelling effect and other occasions drags a little bit.

The style they play is somewhat technical, but also more straightforward than a band like Nile performs. It has punch, however, and there is a scathing display of riffs to be found. The performances to be found are quite competent, but not overwhelmingly amazing. The band is tight and efficient in delivering a relatively constrained style to the table, though they may not have the most original standpoint the listener has ever heard. The album maintains a relatively consistent quality and doesn’t have many complete standout moments. 'Like Breeding Rats' has a slightly more acrobatic display than other tracks on the disc, however.

There also isn’t anything particularly noteworthy to be negative about with this outfit, though they do sound uninspired at times. The album at times reaches a crushing intensity, but Debt Of Nature never up the ante a couple more notches like I believe they could. Regardless, "Crush, Kill And Burn" is a very good release, though it falls short of being phenomenal by quite a margin. This is recommended the most to fans that can appreciate Death Metal to its fullest extent.

Categorical Rating Breakdown

Musicianship: 7.5
Atmosphere: 7
Production: 7.5
Originality: 7
Overall: 7.4

Rating: 7.2 out of 10