The Price of Existence (Reissue)

All Shall Perish

As someone who was not at all familiar with ALL SHALL PERISH up until a […]
By Daniel Fox
February 13, 2015
All Shall Perish - The Price of Existence (Reissue) album cover

As someone who was not at all familiar with ALL SHALL PERISH up until a year ago, I could only imagine the reactions of fans when "The Price of Existence" was released back in 2006; while "Hate, Malice, Revenge" seemed to have solidified the band's status as a premier, raw, Death Metal band with slight Deathcore annotations, the sophomore release completely belied this with what is almost an entirely Deathcore effort. This may, or may not, have something to do with the fact the band took on Eddie Hermida on vocals, now the vocalist for break-out Deathcore act SUICIDE SILENCE.

Opening track "Eradication" is a confusing one; it wants to be technical, it wants to be furious, and then it wants to concave your face with breakdown after breakdown. Not the most cohesive or 'together' track to commence the album on, but it indeed sets the stage for what will be a surprisingly-technical record, although the chuggy groove-fest "Wage Slaves" wouldn't dare give this away.

Breakdowns are chucked about aplenty as opposed to sparingly, and the vocals are a lot more varied than on the previous effort. Hell, I'm actually hearing a few melodies in places, some tracks verging on the outskirts of Metalcore; such as it is with "The Day of Justice"; one of the best tracks on the album. A blistering combination of wild melodies and crushing blast-beats, the up-beat Metalcore-Melodeath vibes take root in this track; the heaviness to keep the old fans, and the crowd-pleasing catchiness to buy new ones. Not even I mind the open-string chug-fests in this track; if only the band knew at the echelon of tripe bands this style of riffing would spawn in the next 5 years.

"Prisoners of War" is an intriguing change of pace for an album that sets such an undeniably-hellish atmosphere. Bleak, if not dauntingly sombre, it is rife with atmospheric riffs entwined with brutally-heavy grooves, and intermittently split by hell-raising melodic licks from both the guitars and bass. Easily one of the record's more technical tracks, was a decent quaff of air amidst what was becoming a sea of breakdowns, and a truly masterful arrangement, in terms of both layering and technicality.  "The Last Relapse" certainly ends the album on a far better note on which it began, essentially "Eradication 2.0". The albums longest track, it was the band's chance to sum up the album with all of it's great qualities, with not so much breakdowns, rather crushing decrescendos that emphasise incredibly tight and technical grooves; a truly astounding rhythmic section.

I can't really believe I'm saying this, but while this album certainly is 'more Deathcore' than the previous, it easily surpasses it in almost every way.

9 / 10

Almost Perfect

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"The Price of Existence (Reissue)" Track-listing:

1. Eradication
2. Wage Slaves
3. The Day of Justice
4. There Is No Business to Be Done on a Dead Planet
5. Better Living Through Catastrophe
6. Prisoner of War
7. Greysong
8. We Hold These Truths
9. The True Beast
10. Promises
11. The Last Relapse

All Shall Perish Lineup:

Hernan "Eddie" Hermida - Vocals
Chris Storey - Guitars
Ben Orum - Guitars
Mike Tiner - Bass
Matt Kuykendall - Drums

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