Ash Pool "for which he plies the trash"

Ash Pool
for which he plies the trash
Hospital Productions
(2)

Hmmm. I am torn. Half of me loves this and half of me really hates this. Ash Pool play very competent and interesting black metal songs. They also pepper some of these songs with riffs that sound stolen straight from Flogging Molly. That stuff sticks out like a sore thumb among all the heavy excellent playing on this record. I don't mean to exaggerate because it isn't all over it but not unlike cat shit on your hand even a tiny bit sorta ruins your day. The playing is great, the production is fucking perfect for the sound they are going for. Overdriven guitars totally fuzzed out but with enough tonal dynamics to set each guitar apart from the other. You can even hear some killer bass lines along with the great drumming. I have no complaints about the vocals mostly except for some really unimpressive "real" singing. When they really sing it sounds like Godsmack junior vocals. When they scream though it puts even Cattle Decapitation to shame. The layout is fantastic and the large percentage of these songs are really great. It's kind of a shame because if they just did a little editing this could be an essential black metal record but even after listening to every really good track, i still can't get the stink off my hand.