UNSIGNED BAND NEWS: ROCKET REVIEW: Elevator Death Squad – “Manifesto” (CD/LP)

The beauty of being in underground heavy music is that your band’s studio productions don’t always have to be well-produced to leave a menacing statement. Endicott, New York’s Elevator Death Squad offers up “Manifesto”, a self-released thrash metal album that features ten solid attempts at accomplishing just that. Opening up with ‘Darker Shade Of Solitude’ the dual guitar work and pummeling drum attack turns out to be perfectly simple enough to grab your attention. The Lamb Of God-influenced vocal work makes the whole listening experience grow even more sinister on the next set of intensely pissed off tracks, ‘Essence Of Misery’ and ‘Diluted Memories’, while an Iron Maiden vibe joins us for ‘Hourglass For The Dead’, along with a Slayer meets D.R.I. format that next wonderfully creeps in for some ultra blast beat chaos in the form of title track ‘Manifesto’. ‘Darkness Decaying The Unwilling’ features a wicked guitar solo from lead guitarist Neil Hendrickson and seems to find the band firing on all cylinders here, taking it all up a notch with track seven’s immensely brutal ‘Ceremonial Sins’. Rounding it all out are the next hard hitting pummelers ‘Single Bullet Theory’, ‘Product of Society’ and ‘Shattered Realm’. It’s safe to say that EDS won’t be invited on tour with any of today’s current crop of glossy MTV bound metalcore outfits with material as downright dark and ugly as “Manifesto”, but then again I think you’ll be hard pressed to find anyone in this band who truly gives a shit about that sort of popularity game. And to me, that’s the coolest goddamn thing about this record.

ROCKET REVIEW:

ELEVATOR DEATH SQUAD

“Manifesto” (CD/LP)

(Self Released/2008)

1.Darker Shade Of Solitude
2.Essence Of Misery
3.Diluted Memories
4.Hourglass For The Dead
5.Manifesto
6.Darkness Decaying The Unwilling
7.Ceremonial Sins
8.Single Bullet Theory
9.Product of Society
10.Shattered Realm

www.myspace.com/elevatordeathsquad