Genre: Old School Death Metal / Melodic Death Metal
Medusa's Gaze debut and 2012 release Medusa's Gaze is something that stands out in the sea of modern death metal, and other heavier genres. Their music is more like how death metal was played two (or more) decades ago, and they do not do it poorly. Some may be turned off by this album, simply because it sounds like this band made this album in the early 90s or late 80s. However, they would be wrong, as this EP dropped in 2012. Also, not to forget, this EP has five songs and 30 minutes worth of material.
"The Valley" is the second song on Medusa's Gaze, and it starts out with guitar riffs by Adam or Ryan, and drums by Dylan. Singing comes soon after the introduction by Ryan, but the vocals transitions to high screams quickly. The vocals transition between high screams and singing throughout the entire song, but the singing is not what is typically heard nowadays in the -core scene. This is where it stands out as old school death metal, because the singing is what the old death metal bands would do. The only band around around now that I could compare it to would be Trivium, but that is a stretch. There is a very lengthy instrumental break in this song at 3:05 which points the listener's focus to the guitars and drums. There is a guitar solo that starts at 3:30 until 3:50. After that, the instrumentals kick back in, but the pace is more upbeat and rhythmic. There is a second guitar solo at 5:00 and continues until 5:30, after which vocals come back into the song to end it. Basically, half this song is instrumentals and guitar solos.
The fourth song on Medusa's Gaze is "Battle Of Worlds." It starts out with rhythm guitar, but soon drums and singing comes in. The pace of this song for the first two minutes transitions between two paces; a heavier pace, and a rhythmic pace. There is a small guitar solo at 1:35 until 1:50, which transitions into another instrumental break from 1:50 until 2:50. Ryan's singing comes in afterwards and continues until 3:20. Another guitar solo at 3:40 until 4:10, and instrumentals continue until 4:30. Vocals come back in for a little bit, but another instrumental break at 4:50 to end the song.
As you can see, there are a lot of instrumentals in this album, which makes each song lengthy and the whole album long. The instrumentals do not take away from the album, nor are they boring or slow. They keep you wanting to listen and to know what happens afterwards, like a build up of sorts. Though I think they're overdone quite a bit, since every song is like this, they're not terrible. The singing is not poorly done, and isn't the kind I dislike, and the screams aren't bad either. The audio quality isn't bad and you can easily hear everything that is going on through the whole album as well.
Overall, if you're into old school death metal or melodic death metal, you should give Medusa's Gaze a listen. Hell, if you're just into death metal instrumentals, you should give it a listen. This EP is pretty good and should be given a chance, if you're looking for something that sounds different.
Score: 3.5 / 5
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