If you read my reviews, and I'll assume nobody does, than you know that I am generally not very warm towards independent bands. Not that I have anything actively against them, but usually it's just mediocre stuff of no real impressive quality. However, once in a Blue Moon Belgian-style witbier, you find something worth listening to. Obviously, I am setting up the fact that this is one of those times.

If you don't know what Death N' Roll [as an unrelated side note, I never know where to put the apostrophes in a phrase like that, so have as many as you want], it's basically something like Death Metal mixed with Rock N' Roll type structures and rhythms. Imagine if Chuck Schuldiner grew up to become Chuck Berry. That's not totally accurate for this specific release, but I wanted to make the previous statement because of the coincidental chance of a Death Metal icon and a Rock N' Roll icon having the same first name.

What BLACKSHINE does is also add some Thrash Metal into the mix. So it's not Chuck Schuldiner growing up to become Chuck Berry and changing his name to Chuck Billy. Somehow, it all ends up working out quite nicely. It has the crunching riffage you get from the heavier stuff and the catchier motifs you get from the other. And, as no small side note, the vocalist isn't up his ass like a lot of vocalists out there who try to sound like the growliest and shoutiest growly shout who ever growled a shout. This doesn't happen here, and I like that. Although sometimes he does the weird vocal trick that sounds like he's shouting from an old car radio or something. I don't care for that nincompoopery, but it's not prevalent enough to warrant serious ire.

My experience with Death N' Roll is highly, highly limited, so maybe I am just inexperienced with the specific attributes of the genre, but that doesn't detract from this specific release. For those who forget or think I need to be an expert on every genre beforehand, please remember that a reviewer reviews one individual thing on its own merits, not an entire genre as a whole. And also fuck off if you think they are supposed to.

So, it's enjoyable and surprising well structured. I liked it, and that should be worth something. How's an 8 sound? The best part of getting an 8 is that you can tilt it sideways and wear it like a bandit mask. You can't do that with a 7, can you?