The Autumn Offering

The Autumn Offering

This Daytona Beach, Florida-based quintet’s fifth full-length announces its lack of subtlety right off the bat, with cover art depicting some kind of demonic raven gripping a pentagram in its claws. That the album itself consists of churning, downtuned metal riffs, genuinely impressive guitar solos and muscleheaded roaring should surprise absolutely no one, whether or not they’ve been fans all along. Musically, the group fall somewhere between Avenged Sevenfold at their crunchiest and Bleeding Through or maybe Throwdown (when Throwdown aren’t just ripping off Pantera). Frontman Matt McChesney’s clean vocals (as heard on “Exhale The Locusts” and “Myriad Black”) are a definite weak point, a trick the band should have tossed from their repertoire. But the Swedish-style melodic riffing on “Myriad Black” is pretty swell, and the keyboards that come in toward the end of “Bloodlust” are a nice touch, too. Overall, this is a gutsy clenched fist of an album that’ll make for excellent headbanging behind the wheel.

Victory http://www.victoryrecords.com

“Born Dead”