Ghoul Patrol 2011

"I am not always a fan of death 'n' roll. Granted Entombed's "Wolverine Blues" is an awesome album, and Gorefest also did a very good job on their more death 'n' roll oriented releases. But generally, I think that the blend of rock 'n' roll and death metal seems too forced and unenjoyable.

Fortunately, Ghoul Patrol do not suffer from this problem, and this their eponymous full-length debut is actually surprisingly good. Yes, there are lots rock and rock 'n' roll elements - even some blues rock and southern guitar twangs every now and then, which is combined both with groove metal and various types of death metal. Most of the time, this blend works surprisingly well (although, it might take some getting used to the most bluesy passages). One reason for the musical success of this album could be that the most prominent type of death metal features on this album is melodeath (there is a strong At the Gates influence on the album), which already goes quite well together with more rock oriented music, and this provides a natural transition between the rock elements and the brutal blastbeat death metal sections that this album features quite prominently at places (just check out a track like 'Parasite City' and 'Staring at the Abyss' which contains both black metal and doom metal elements).

The musicianship is top notch, and this is probably another reason why the Ghoul Patrol guys seamlessly can go back and forth between brutal death metal and heavy metal, hard rock and rock 'n' roll-ish elements.

This is definitely an enjoyable release, which reminds us that melodic death metal and death 'n' roll can definitely be awesome.

(review originally posted at metalmusicarchives.com)"