Review by JD on November 5, 2011.

Metal like wine, gets better with age. It allows the band to perfect their sonic blitz, and to consolidate what it is that they want to say with pinpoint accuracy along with their musical attack. I have reviewed Rising Pain before, and I happily do it once again. They have been a favorite of mine, and I wanna see if that still holds true.

I have played their 2009 release "The Essence Of Decay" so many times, my wife nearly has asked me for a divorce more than once due to my use of maximum volume while doing it. It has also become one of my mainstays in my MP3 player for a hell of a long time. Rising Pain had handed me another gem... this time, it is more than just amazing. They have grown, matured and know now how to kick ass better than ever. This Thrash/Death/ Progressive act has left the Sepultura and Cannibal Corpse leanings behind and forged a style that is uniquely them without forgetting where they came from.

This EP is full of the most impressive metallic gems that just jump out at you, songs that are as extraordinary as any while being damned brutally acrid with the way each song is delivered with this amazing pinpoint accuracy that compares to a world class sniper. Not to mention the music also rumbles and stomps almost as heavy as a full divisions of tanks against a pack of rabbits in a open field. This is metal in the new millennium, ones that moves forward while still keeping it brutal to the end and pays tribute to the metal that has shaped it in the past.

This is how metal should be dispensed... with venomous brutality mixing with perfect symmetry of talent, unabashed venom and explosive aggression. Rising Pain is a band that I need to watch even more than most, because they have all the tools to end up as one of the top metal acts the world has ever seen... and ever will as well.

Attention Metallers everywhere: Fuckin’ buy this album!! I am clear on this point... yeah I am? Now... where is my damn beer...

Categorical Rating Breakdown

Musicianship: 9.5
Atmosphere: 9.5
Production: 9
Originality: 9
Overall: 9.5

Rating: 9.3 out of 10

Review by JD on November 5, 2011.

Metal like wine, gets better with age. It allows the band to perfect their sonic blitz, and to consolidate what it is that they want to say with pinpoint accuracy along with their musical attack. I have reviewed Rising Pain before, and I happily do it once again. They have been a favorite of mine, and I wanna see if that still holds true.

I have played their 2009 release "The Essence Of Decay" so many times, my wife nearly has asked me for a divorce more than once due to my use of maximum volume while doing it. It has also become one of my mainstays in my MP3 player for a hell of a long time. Rising Pain had handed me another gem... this time, it is more than just amazing. They have grown, matured and know now how to kick ass better than ever. This Thrash/Death/ Progressive act has left the Sepultura and Cannibal Corpse leanings behind and forged a style that is uniquely them without forgetting where they came from.

This EP is full of the most impressive metallic gems that just jump out at you, songs that are as extraordinary as any while being damned brutally acrid with the way each song is delivered with this amazing pinpoint accuracy that compares to a world class sniper. Not to mention the music also rumbles and stomps almost as heavy as a full divisions of tanks against a pack of rabbits in a open field. This is metal in the new millennium, ones that moves forward while still keeping it brutal to the end and pays tribute to the metal that has shaped it in the past.

This is how metal should be dispensed... with venomous brutality mixing with perfect symmetry of talent, unabashed venom and explosive aggression. Rising Pain is a band that I need to watch even more than most, because they have all the tools to end up as one of the top metal acts the world has ever seen... and ever will as well.

Attention Metallers everywhere: Fuckin’ buy this album!! I am clear on this point... yeah I am? Now... where is my damn beer...

Categorical Rating Breakdown

Musicianship: 9.5
Atmosphere: 9.5
Production: 9
Originality: 9
Overall: 9.5

Rating: 9.3 out of 10

Review by JD on November 5, 2011.

Metal like wine, gets better with age. It allows the band to perfect their sonic blitz, and to consolidate what it is that they want to say with pinpoint accuracy along with their musical attack. I have reviewed Rising Pain before, and I happily do it once again. They have been a favorite of mine, and I wanna see if that still holds true.

I have played their 2009 release "The Essence Of Decay" so many times, my wife nearly has asked me for a divorce more than once due to my use of maximum volume while doing it. It has also become one of my mainstays in my MP3 player for a hell of a long time. Rising Pain had handed me another gem... this time, it is more than just amazing. They have grown, matured and know now how to kick ass better than ever. This Thrash/Death/ Progressive act has left the Sepultura and Cannibal Corpse leanings behind and forged a style that is uniquely them without forgetting where they came from.

This EP is full of the most impressive metallic gems that just jump out at you, songs that are as extraordinary as any while being damned brutally acrid with the way each song is delivered with this amazing pinpoint accuracy that compares to a world class sniper. Not to mention the music also rumbles and stomps almost as heavy as a full divisions of tanks against a pack of rabbits in a open field. This is metal in the new millennium, ones that moves forward while still keeping it brutal to the end and pays tribute to the metal that has shaped it in the past.

This is how metal should be dispensed... with venomous brutality mixing with perfect symmetry of talent, unabashed venom and explosive aggression. Rising Pain is a band that I need to watch even more than most, because they have all the tools to end up as one of the top metal acts the world has ever seen... and ever will as well.

Attention Metallers everywhere: Fuckin’ buy this album!! I am clear on this point... yeah I am? Now... where is my damn beer...

Categorical Rating Breakdown

Musicianship: 9.5
Atmosphere: 9.5
Production: 9
Originality: 9
Overall: 9.5

Rating: 9.3 out of 10

Review by JD on August 7, 2011.

Confused... as I sit here to write a review for The Sunwashed Avenues, that is where I am at. This is a band that defies all logic... and that is not in a good way. I have just finished the album for the 5th time and I am as confused as a Amish man who has found himself at a Gwar concert.

Stapling together so many influences can cause a lack of focus and this band has indisputably no focus. Songs runs the gambit from a sort of Death Metal attack... to old school Punk that just plods along aimlessly, these guys bring every influence to bear and yet never does very much with it. I have to admit that I really get stoked when a band can do a whole variety of different styles, but not when it seems so muddled together. The Sunwashed Avenues seem not to be on the same page.

The musicianship is very impressive, as is the production and packaging, but that never hides the fact that this band is all over the place, to the point that they probably have no clue to what they are doing. Artistic and vision aside, all great art needs something that binds it all together into one - and there is nothing that is making this band into what the potential of the talent they have.

Some might find something in the album they like, but confusion and the fact that there is no true direction to see - even that might be short lived. As much talent that The Sunwashed Avenues have, doubt if it could save the album. My advice is to skip the album, and hope that when the next album is released, they all play as one.

Categorical Rating Breakdown

Musicianship: 8
Atmosphere: 5
Production: 8
Originality: 5 (confusion is not original)
Overall: 6.5

Rating: 6.5 out of 10