This Is Where It Ends (Bonus Version)

At the beginning of their fourth studio album, Oakland’s All Shall Perish create a palpable tension as they strain to balance their bludgeoning death metal with a more technical foray into the hyper-athletic realm of metalcore. Out of this struggle they give into some incredibly brooding doom, creating a brand new monster. “Divine Illusion” drops the listener right in the middle of a war between genres. “There Is Nothing Left” follows, boasting some tendonitis-inducing fretboard shredding over which Eddie Hermida screams. By “Procession of Ashes” the band simmers down and begins to morph into a lumbering juggernaut of metal. “Rebirth” signifies that the metamorphosis is nearly complete — with this track they’ve laid out complex arrangements and unpredictable changes more associated with prog while keeping their deathly drum blasts firing. “In This Life Of Pain” stretches out for nearly eight minutes. It opens with spare piano notes and strings that usher in a hurricane swell of sonic storms hammering down with more ferocity than any previous recordings.