QUEST OF AIDANCE

When 30 to 40 minutes of brutal death metal is too much to stomach, a death metal quickie that clocks in at a mere 10 minutes might do the trick. Take "Fallen Man Collection" from Sweden's QUEST OF AIDANCE for example. Its eight tracks put the "mini" in MCD and is just far enough outside of the boundaries of Suckville to give those pining for a few swift blows to head a little fist-to-face action.

Stylistically, QUEST OF AIDANCE play a U.S. death metal style that at times borders on grind. In fact, considering that the track lengths vary from one to two minutes (and less),one might even say the band takes a grindcore approach to death metal. However, the tunes may be up-tempo, but are not of the speeding lunatic variety characteristic of those residing on the grindcore side of the line. A basically solid and to-the-point affair, "Fallen Man Collection" works best when the boys kick out a basic "chorus" (the one line death metal kind, of course) that is memorable and decipherable, as is the case on album highlights "The Hunter and the Prey" and "Man is the Harvest". Comparatively speaking, the sound approaches the U.S. death metal style of a band like BLOOD RED THRONE, albeit faster and less dynamic. The vocals fall somewhere between BLOOD RED THRONE's Mr. Hustler and former DECAPITATED vocalist Sauron. To be perfectly honest, there is a better band comparison than BRT out there and I'll be damned if I can shake it loose from the noggin. Anyway, QUEST OF AIDANCE's sound can come off a bit mechanized, but not so much so as to be sterile. As for the remaining tracks, "not too shabby" comes to mind, but little else.

Most fans of brutal death would not be disappointed in "Fallen Man Collection", and the brevity of the songs (and album for that matter) makes it a tad different than works by the band's many contemporaries. So OK, a couple more tracks would have been nice and it's not like "Fallen Man Collection" will turn death metal on its head. Let's face it, the competition in the death metal community is tough. Still, "Fallen Man Collection" is a generally satisfying bucket of punch 'n' crunch.