I once really upset someone by saying if I could listen to only one sub-genre of Metal for the rest of my life, it would be Melodic Death Metal. They really weren't convinced. But everything about EPITOME's "The Origon Error", really, ahem, epitomises what I meant. It's fast, melodic (perhaps unsurprisingly) but retains that bit of aggression that bands such as the sadly fallen IN FLAMES no longer have.

Everything about this album well and truly rocks, it's by no means a new take on the Melodic Death scene, and you will have heard it before, but that really doesn't stop it from being a superb album. The personal highlights, in my own humble opinion, are "Drag Us To Hell", with the vocalist screaming those words in the anguished style of a little known vocalist called Anders Fridén, yes I know I slightly slagged IN FLAMES off earlier, but the style of vocals, if not necessarily the sound, is rather similar, and what's more I am actually still a fan of IN FLAMES's new material too. My other top highlight is "Welcome Suffering", in which the guitars and the vocals really stand out.

The vocals actually are first class the whole way through, as are the guitars and bass, sadly, like so many otherwise superb Melodic Death albums, the bass is consigned to a pretty much inaudible back seat, a prominent weakness within the genre which really needs to sorted out at some point.

All in all, "The Origin Error" is a top effort, sure it's pretty much the same blueprint used all the way through, but it does the job as well as any other album, the band is cohesive and does play some interesting, but unoriginal stuff, the first minute or so of "Rise", being a good example, for anyone who, like me, enjoys a healthy bit of duel guitar work. That's most metal-heads then... This band are certainly worth their salt, it is straightforward Melo-Death plain and simple, if you're the sort of person that can happily listen to CANNIBAL CORPSE for eight hours in a day, then you may need something to relax to in the evening.