On paper, a description of TRIPLE MURDER might tickle the interest of a particular sect of the Metal world. Combining the Groove Metal of Pantera with Metalcore certainly is an acquired taste, but it is a blend with potential. It's a tragic shame then that TRIPLE MURDER seem to take the most loathsome elements from each of these genres, stitching them together to create a creature that even Dr Frankenstein would describe as "going too far". Add the occasional generic Death Metal riff and you have "Pre-Meditated".

Cleverly chosen as the lead single for this EP, with a matching music video no less, "Cannibalistic" is straight up Death Metal. Death Metal you've heard a million times before, and much, much better before. No description is really necessary of this song. Simply picture any Death Metal song you are sick to the teeth of, and you're basically there. Shying away from their more divisive elements in their choice of single is wise, as this is the only track that remains listenable from start to finish.

EP opener, "Boogeyman" quickly kills any notion that this band are the Death Metal band they purport to be. An intro riff with potential is quickly slaughtered by a kick drum pattern that actively works against the riff, before we are quickly returned to mediocrity. The PANTERA vibes work in full force, when the vocalist yells in the chorus, "I AM THE BOOGEYMAN!" I'm entirely sure he thought he sounded incredibly menacing, and just like Phillip Anselmo, but trust me, he does not. In fact, this line and it's delivery caused me to burst out into laughter. Such is the try-hard attitude of this line (and basically every song here) that it feels like a caricature. Nothing here feels genuine or done for the love of music. This EP feels like a bunch of teenagers trying to convince everybody that they're really "hard". I can even imagine these musicians bragging about how their tastes of music are so much better than anybody who likes Pop musics', whilst not being able to justify why in any coherent manner.

Occasional riffs in "Eyes Of Judgement" and "Crawl" are passable, but never breathtaking, and performances on the whole are standard, despite the occasional copycat impressions of better artists by the vocalist (Phillip Anselmo and M Shadows are the ones that come to mind). This album isn't the worst thing I've ever heard, but it is so soulless and generic that I'm forced to plead for death. I guess this murder truly was Pre-Meditated after all.

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