Cemetery Dance
Poser Zombies
Soundflakes Studio
2013
A very pleasant surprise comes to us from Athens, Greece. Cemetery Dance is a band consisted of members from some of the most important acts in the local metal scene, bands like Nightfall, U.N.S.I.N., Nocta and Mopar. One year after the release of their first 4-track demo (“Live Demo Zombie I”) in 2012, I guess they thought it was time for their debut full length attempt. The name of the album is “Poser Zombies” and it combines hard rock and metal with punk.
The album kicks off with the multilayered “Fixed Imagination”. It starts off with a combination of clean and brutal vocals accompanied by a thrash metal guitar riff and double bass drum rhythm, then it moves to a melodic (clean guitar, clean vocal) chorus, only to end up to one of down-tempo hard as nails break right before a high pitched, face melting noise guitar solo.
Right after that “Trail Of Life” comes on. Here, we have a crossover between a Dammed 70s punk song and a Winger 80’s hard rock one. Full of energy and with a crisp clear production sound “Trail of Life” is a fun-loving track that one could listen almost any time of the day.
Moving on, we find the fast and dirty “Marching Dead”. Now this would have been a clear cut punk explosion if it wasn’t for that equally fast, but so hair metal guitar solo which comes on right at the last minute.
“Part of my Legacy” is the last song on side A (did I forget to mention that “Poser Zombies” is available only on 12" vinyl or by digital download?). What can I say about this track? Let’s start with the obvious; it’s a pretty tight heavy rock jam with a lot of heart. Fine as it is though, I can’t really say that it has much to make it stand out from the rest. Don’t get me wrong, it doesn’t by any means mess up the overall flow of the record, but every album is bound to have at least one low point. The good thing is that when you set the bar so high, a low point is still pretty damn high.
“Cemetery Dance” starts off the second side of the record. It’s an extra powerful hard/heavy rock jam which the band obviously pours their hearts and souls into. It kinda reminded me of a crossover between AC/DC and Judas Priest with a contemporary alternative metal vibe though. Definitely one of the album’s strongest points.
Next we have “Last Night”. I can only describe this track as “a metal oriented version of rockabilly revival song”. In other words, it’s like a Meteors or Cramps song with a contemporary guitar distortion. Sounds pretty cool.
The second to last track is “Outspoken”. You know how the line between thrash metal and punk is sometimes blurred? Well, the first one and a half minute of this song moves somewhere around the border of these two music genres. However, after that it drops its tempo to a somewhat psychedelic rock middle part, only to return to the thrash/punk levels it began with. I may not be one of the greatest songs of the album, but all in all, an energetic and interesting track.
Finally, we end up to “Poser Zombies”, an elaborate old school hard rock song, right into today’s standards. Pretty sweet guitar work, catchy melodic vocals and a tight as hell rhythm section. It serves as the icing on the cake perfectly.
As you might have guessed, I really enjoyed listening to “Poser Zombies”. I don’t know if it will stand the test of time. I will have to listen to it several more times in the months to come. I will truly keep my eye out for the next time Cemetery Dance have a live gig to see for myself if all this great energy they share in the studio translates well on stage.
The album kicks off with the multilayered “Fixed Imagination”. It starts off with a combination of clean and brutal vocals accompanied by a thrash metal guitar riff and double bass drum rhythm, then it moves to a melodic (clean guitar, clean vocal) chorus, only to end up to one of down-tempo hard as nails break right before a high pitched, face melting noise guitar solo.
Right after that “Trail Of Life” comes on. Here, we have a crossover between a Dammed 70s punk song and a Winger 80’s hard rock one. Full of energy and with a crisp clear production sound “Trail of Life” is a fun-loving track that one could listen almost any time of the day.
Moving on, we find the fast and dirty “Marching Dead”. Now this would have been a clear cut punk explosion if it wasn’t for that equally fast, but so hair metal guitar solo which comes on right at the last minute.
“Part of my Legacy” is the last song on side A (did I forget to mention that “Poser Zombies” is available only on 12" vinyl or by digital download?). What can I say about this track? Let’s start with the obvious; it’s a pretty tight heavy rock jam with a lot of heart. Fine as it is though, I can’t really say that it has much to make it stand out from the rest. Don’t get me wrong, it doesn’t by any means mess up the overall flow of the record, but every album is bound to have at least one low point. The good thing is that when you set the bar so high, a low point is still pretty damn high.
“Cemetery Dance” starts off the second side of the record. It’s an extra powerful hard/heavy rock jam which the band obviously pours their hearts and souls into. It kinda reminded me of a crossover between AC/DC and Judas Priest with a contemporary alternative metal vibe though. Definitely one of the album’s strongest points.
Next we have “Last Night”. I can only describe this track as “a metal oriented version of rockabilly revival song”. In other words, it’s like a Meteors or Cramps song with a contemporary guitar distortion. Sounds pretty cool.
The second to last track is “Outspoken”. You know how the line between thrash metal and punk is sometimes blurred? Well, the first one and a half minute of this song moves somewhere around the border of these two music genres. However, after that it drops its tempo to a somewhat psychedelic rock middle part, only to return to the thrash/punk levels it began with. I may not be one of the greatest songs of the album, but all in all, an energetic and interesting track.
Finally, we end up to “Poser Zombies”, an elaborate old school hard rock song, right into today’s standards. Pretty sweet guitar work, catchy melodic vocals and a tight as hell rhythm section. It serves as the icing on the cake perfectly.
As you might have guessed, I really enjoyed listening to “Poser Zombies”. I don’t know if it will stand the test of time. I will have to listen to it several more times in the months to come. I will truly keep my eye out for the next time Cemetery Dance have a live gig to see for myself if all this great energy they share in the studio translates well on stage.