Tuesday, December 24, 2013

Death Pit – Hell On Hallows Eve


Having formed just a couple of years ago, Death Pit are young thrashers out of the United States. “Hell On Hallows Eve” was released on Halloween this year, and is 9 tracks of some crossover/punk influenced thrash. In fact, two of the songs on this release are punk covers. Though I know nothing of punk, the cover of “Pet Sematary” was actually pretty impressive. The originals are a mixed bag in terms of quality. Songs like “And There Was Blood” and “Dying Will Be Your Destiny” have interesting melodies (in the case of the former) and impressive vocal hooks (the latter). While none of the other songs are outright bad, at times they feel underdeveloped. “Charles Lee Ray 2” doesn’t even break 90 seconds, but it is like a barrage of vocals constantly shouted with no attempt for coherency. Another somewhat frustrating moment is “Curse of the Witch”; the song as a whole is on par with the stronger stuff, but there’s a melody that is similar to Annihilator’s “Alison Hell” or Anthrax’s “Among The Living”. In addition, this song has vastly different production to the remainder of the album for some reason.

The sound of “Hell On Hallows Eve” is predictable, but that certainly is not a bad thing. It’s hard to imagine the vocalist has any sort of training or years of experience, but there’s no other way it should be in crossover. It’s fitting that Death Pit’s singer sounds like a crazy man yelling randomly. The guitar tone is surprisingly heavy, as it’s pretty crunchy. The solos sound good, if a bit hectic, but definitely fit the EP. The drum fills in general have a proper sound, but when the double bass kicks in, such as in "Dying Will Be Your Destiny", it's noticeable how poor they really sound. 

One thing aside from the music I’d like to say about this EP is that it’s a bit disorganized. I have been given no indication of what the track order is, nor was I informed of what the EP was even titled until I looked it up myself. As a band, I would think doing promotion is the easy part, so it definitely is a good idea to be able to present your music well in a PR package. Maybe I enjoyed this in the right order, but maybe not. Either way, good music does trump poor presentation, but if you’re a band looking to get noticed, make it easy for those who can notice you to do so by presenting the music well.

Be sure to check out and like Death Pit on Facebook!

Highlights
"And There Was Blood"
"Dying Will Be You Destiny"
"Mobile Infantry

Final Rating
3.6/5 or 72%. 

Written by Scott