By Carl Zielinski

Gargoyle staff reporter


Posted Friday, April 27, 2007, The OG, arts

AT A GLANCE

— CD: Six Feet Under, “Commandment”

— Release date: April 17, 2007

— Six Feet Under's Web site

— Six Feet Under's MySpace page

— Six Feet Under's Wikipedia entry

IF YOU LIKE your music caked with blood, dirt, gristle, and a few intestines thrown in for good measure, I've found a perfect band for you.

As graceful as a rampaging troll and subtle as a blood-drenched serial killer on his seventh victim, Six Feet Under certainly aren't going to be winning artistic credibility any time soon.

Largely the brainchild of vocalist Chris Barnes, Six Feet are one of the few original Floridian death-metal bands still together, let alone producing quality music.

Even though it won't win over fans of Justin Timberlake or any remotely mainstream music, hardcore fans of death metal definitely won't be disappointed with “Commandment,” the band's latest release.

Every song is a pounding, brutal sprint through every stylistic cliché to ever have been associated with death metal. Chugging, vicious rhythms bump elbows with fast, primal drums and stomach-turning, brutish vocals to create some of the most assaulting music ever dreamed of.

For the most part, this is pulled off quite well. Guitarist Steve Swanson and bassist Terry Butler whip out brutal, grinding riffs while still maintaining a keen sense of groove in their rhythm, bringing to mind the work of Pantera's “Dimebag” Darrell Abbott.

Barnes all the while maintains his reputation as the most distinctive vocalist in death metal, growling and grunting like a berserk zombie.

The only member who really isn't holding up is drummer Greg Gall. While his drumming fits consistently with the guitar and bass riffs, he lacks any variation during individual songs and instead relies on the much-abused death-metal double-bass drum blast.

If you can get past Gall, however, the rest of the band members put up an extremely talented assault.

The triumvirate of Barnes, Butler, and Swanson are all highly experienced in the genre; Barnes was one of the key people who got media attention in the early '90s while he was in death-metal juggernaut Cannibal Corpse, even if said attention was largely because of the band's unbelievably disgusting lyrics (see the CC song “Butchered at Birth,” among numerous others too foul to be mentioned).

Luckily, Barnes has mostly turned down the gore factor in his lyrics (except on “Edge of the Hatchet” and “Bled to Death,” and even they're pretty tame by gore standards), and instead provides rather vague, somewhat menacing horror images that succeeded in making me roll on the floor laughing, as opposed to forcing me into shock.

For listeners who aren't fans, though, songs that are titled “Zombie Executioner” and “Resurrection of the Rotten” are going to sound extremely funny, which is only worsened by the typical death-metal “Cookie Monster” vocal style Barnes helped to pioneer.

Unfortunately, that's the drawback with the style. To those who enjoy it the music sounds great, and to those that don't it sounds like humorously annoying white noise.

So if death metal's your gig or you're willing to take a chance, go ahead and buy a copy. Otherwise, continue your day normally. The chances are extremely high that this album will never bother you.

VIDEO: “Ghosts of the Undead,” from Six Feet Under's latest album, “Commandment”

[Note: This video was put on YouTube by the band's record label, Metal Blade.]