Death Metal with modern influences is what KILLFLOOR MECHANIC are described as being, so I was ready to hear some DARK TRANQUILITY inspired Death Metal when I got my first chance to have a listed to the newcomers album "Estimated Time of Death". That however is not exactly what you get when listening to the record, as a matter of fact it seems to be the other way around, and it's more Modern Metal with Death Metal influences. The real question, is that a bad thing? Nope, not at all.

Now, I admit, I'm not a Modern Metal kind of guy, quite the opposite actually, so it took me a couple of listens to the album to write this review, surprisingly though, this album actually grew on me. The band do manage to create a nice bland between the Death and the core, a rare occurrence in bands nowadays. Granted Felix Hochkeppel's vocals are not always top notch and at times the screams are a bit overdone, on the other hand though, his clean vocals are spot on and most of the time the growls and screams work well.

The musicianship is also excellent throughout this release. A great example of the potential of this band is the excellent "The End of Madness" a very fast mosh pit inspiring track featuring very fast blast beats, mixing together a slower, clean sung and very catchy chorus. Another example is "Child of Capgras", more of classic Death Metal song with clean vocals mixed in.

The band manages to succeed where many have failed, they are able to combine the classic with the modern to create an original yet familiar sound, and the styles blend in perfectly. This album isn't perfect, but it certainly shows the potential this band has for the future and I'm certainly looking forward to seeing what they do next.