Brotality - The Woods Will End You

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Sometimes you just want to go and kiss the people who distribute the albums amongst us poor writers and allow us to review them for Metal Temple. Why? Easy, because once in a while you come across that one priceless gem that you probably wouldn’t have discovered if they hadn’t sent it to you. As everyone who knows me is aware, I am a MASSIVE fan of MASTODON. To me, they are the best Metal band that is roaming our globe at this moment in time. But, I have a lot of bands I really like a lot, and OPETH and GOJIRA are amongst those.

Well, if you put all those ingredients into one put and pour it out onto an album, what will come out might just sound like BROTALITY does on “The Woods Will End You”. This band hails from Narrowsburg in New York, and this actually is their second full length album. The biggest influence they have is undoubtedly MASTODON, as not only you hear some riffs that could have been theirs, but BROTALITY also houses an overactive drummer in their midst. John Haring is an absolute beast, but has the decency to be a little less on the foreground than Brann Dailor does. But to say that “The Woods Will End You” could have been a MASTODON album is completely false.

No, this houses a lot more of the influences I mentioned before, and the music flows from early MASTODON riffs and rhythms, to Progressive OPETH melodies and breaks. Then we go further, onto Metalcore parts and intensity that could have come from GOJIRA. Sometimes it gets very heavy, other times they are little more subdued. What gives the music an extra dimension is the use of all different kinds of voices, from clean singing to Death Metal grunts to Hardcore screams. Plus, that “The Woods Will End You” has an unpolished sound, something that sets BROTALITY apart from their peers, who all sound a lot less rough. And that is what makes this so bloody good, that although they have taken all those influences and thrown them into the songs left, right and centre, every tune you are listening to makes sense, is put together in an orderly way and makes you want to keep listening to “The Woods Will End You” over and over again. Plus, I really need to find the rest of their music. Even if it is half as impressive as “The Woods Will End You” I have to have it in my collection. BROTALITY rules!

Songwriting: 10
Musicianship: 10
Memorability: 10
Production: 10