Fates Demise – “Sins of a Life Past” [EP]

Sins of a Life Past is the debut EP by California’s Fates Demise, a band whose bio frequently references death/thrash and black metal as comparison styles to their sound. Personally I see the band more as a “death metal lite” group, similar to Only Inhuman era Sonic Syndicate or even more core-ish bands like Killswitch Engage, As I lay Dying and early Trivium – especially in reference to the band’s use of harsh and clean singing styles.

I generally find most bands who use the back and forth harsh/clean singing styles irritating as (with the exception of the above mentioned bands) more often then not the songs end up sticking to a formula where they’re heavy as fuck until an overly sappy chorus comes in. After about 15 minutes of this I usually want to puke. Does Fates Demise make it work? Only about 50% of the time.

Don’t get me wrong, these guys write some really good songs with absolutely amazing, chugging riffs, plus singer Joe Pfeifer can growl with the best of them. The only problem is that in my opinion, I don’t think the clean singing always works in the context of the songs. It doesn’t make the songs bad, it just makes them less then they could be. Other than the minor quibble about the frequent use of “clean” vocals, Sins of a Life Past is a pretty decent debut and serves as a great introduction to the band.

Track Listing:

01. The Devil’s Water
02. Sins of a Life Past
03. All In
04. Red Eyes
05. Vatican Skies

Run Time: 20:11
Release Date: April 27, 2012

Check out the song: “Sins of a Life Past”