Death Metal is a genre filled with tropes and clichés. Screamed vocals, evil lyrical imagery, indecipherable band logos, high tempo songs...all of these are abundant on the debut album from the Norwegian group KILLING FOR COMPANY.

The nine tracks on "House of Hades" have no let up at all. Within its 41-minute run time, the only brief respite is during the intro "Tartarus", which comes half way through the album; that's an intro to the title track "House of Hades", not an intro to the overall album- unless someone messed up the running order. The songs are full of fast paced riffs that are intertwined with some surprisingly melodic elements and deep, growled vocals.

Individually, there is not a lot that makes the tracks stand out from each other; a brief choral underscoring to the introductory section of "Judas Cradle" is about it. Even though the whole thing is very generic in its style, KILLING FOR COMPANY have nonetheless written a compelling and enjoyable album. And whilst there is very little originality, the songs are well crafted and call back to classic Death Metal acts with a reverence.

All of the tracks are laced with evil titles and demonic references, "Cut Member Corpses", "God of Malice", "Marching in Step with Death" etc.

There is a certain energy and passion that has been captured on "House of Hades". The production is not as ropey as on many smaller, independent Death Metal releases, which in turn lends a clarity to everything recorded. This album sounds refined without losing its raw edge.

"House of Hades" is a great, classic sounding Death Metal album that fans of the genre will enjoy full of evil and hate. KILLING FOR COMPANY are a powerful young band to look out for, especially if you enjoy all things dark and brutal within your music.