We here at Peacedogman are a bit notorious when it comes to our reviews of melodic death metal, especially the stuff that comes out of the U.S. It's nothing personal, really, but seeing as it's been almost 20 years (!) since the debut of AT THE GATES, a little bit of innovation isn't too much to ask for. At the very least, bands need to learn how to write songs that don't use the same tired ol' song structures and chord progressions and bring some balls back into the genre.

Thankfully, Montana's MARTRIDEN have both songwriting ability and balls. It also helps that this self-titled debut EP is a genre-bending affair that owes much of its sound to Norwegian black metal, from the keyboards to the raspy vocals that sounds nearly identical to Satyr from SATYRICON. From the first few seconds of "Blank Eye Stare", it's clear that this is something different: the combination of the synth pad, vicious drum rolls and crushing three-note intro riff, this one is at least as lethal as the last BEHEMOTH album. Even better, these guys show a fair amount of knowledge in music theory with the half-step dissonance in the dueling guitars of "The Art of Death Infernal". And unlike most melodic death bands that sound so damn happy, this EP is startlingly cold and dark, especially "Set a Fire in Our Flesh". Granted, a few clichés of the genre remain such as the typewriter drum triggers and inexplicable acoustic breakdowns, but the infamous overused song structures remain largely untouched.

The amount accomplished in the scant 25 minutes of this EP may be bad news for the rest of the U.S. melodic death metal scene, but it's certainly good news for MARTRIDEN. What's more, their full-length debut "The Unsettling Dark" is just around the corner, so expect just about every young metalhead out there to pounce on the MARTRIDEN bandwagon shortly thereafter. In the meantime, sink the ol' fangs into this here EP for a sneak peak into the next big thing.

- Cardona

OFFICIAL SITE: www.martriden.com

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