Daath's 'Hinderers' offers fury, finesse

When I got into full-blown metal back in the early '80s, I had no idea how extreme the style could get. Sure there were the bands like Slayer, Venom, Mercyful Fate, Demon and Celtic Frost (formerly Hellhammer) that found their way into my record collection, but that was only scratching the surface of extreme metal.

In the early 1990s, I discovered a band called Goreguts. For some reason, I didn't like the sound. It was more extreme than Slayer and was labeled grindcore. Even today, I have a hard time listening to Goreguts. I'd rather listen to other grindcore bands Napalm Death or Carcass.

Anyway, the main difference between grindcore and death metal is melody. Death metal features grinding guitars and guttural vocals, but there's also a touch of dynamic melancholy that goes with the arrangements. And there can also be a shot of keyboards for the dirges and preludes.

One of my favorite death-metal bands is Opeth. But recently I've been getting into Daath. Regardless of what the name looks like in print, "Daath" is a Hebrew word meaning "knowledge attained by extraordinary means."

Daath hails from Atlanta and released its Roadrunner Records debut "The Hinderers" just 10 days ago.

Such titles as "Subterfuge," "Cosmic Forge," "Under a Somber Sign" and "Blessed Through Misery" offer a glimpse of the fury, finesse and progression the band is hitting these days.

Guitarist Eyal Levi has said the band isn't a typical death-metal group. "We have a lot of influences," he said in a written statement. "I started playing violin when I was 4, and I listened to everything from Gustaf Mahler to the Doors to Aphex Twin. I don't think we're traditional death metal. I would say that we're progressive extreme music."

It's true the band is quite progressive, but unlike Opeth, whose songs rarely wrap up under eight minutes, Daath's compositions lie in the three- to five-minute average.

It will be interesting to see how "The Hinderers" is received by metal fans.

I, for one, think it rules.

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E-mail: scott@desnews.com