Bonus MP3: The Famine -- "The New Hell"

By Pete Freedman Thu., Mar. 3 2011 at 3:45 PM

Arlington's The Famine, not Andrew W.K. and friends.

In this week's paper, I take a close look at the new release from Arlington death metal quartet The Famine, called The Architects of Guilt, an album that, as early looks and listens revealed, is as technically proficient as it is brutal. In other words? It's kind of what you'd hope to hear from a band that has been so bold as to claim that that it hopes to "set a standard for metal that will stand the test of time the way others before us have."

An excerpt from my fairly glowing review:

The Architects of Guilt lives up to its own hype. Right from the album's start, The Famine show that they can walk the walk. Opening cut "The New Hell" hits like an uppercut to the chin: Drummer Mark Garza rattles away with an unrelenting, mind-blowing technical proficiency, crafting a fever-dream aesthetic that's completed by guitarist Andrew Godwin's swirling, snarling riffs. Nowell's shrieks of nightmarish glee, sitting just atop the music, hammer the idea home. "Oh, the horror!" he squeals in a voice that is neither particularly pleasing nor at all, one imagines, comfortable for him to summon. But it works: "We did this to ourselves!" he continues, before lyrically bemoaning the fervor of the Bible Belt and welcoming listeners to "your new hell." Heady stuff--and material that certainly backs up The Famine's claims that, despite its label's Christian affiliations, they're no Christian band. Continue reading...

Now, thanks to the band, DC9 readers can hear specifically what I meant, as The Famine has been kind enough to pass along the album's opening track, "The New Hell," along to DC9 readers as a free download. Listen to it and download it after the jump.

Bonus MP3: The Famine -- "The New Hell"

Heady stuff, indeed.