Daath

The frantic pace at which Dååth have begun churning out product — this eponymous fourth album follows barely one year after their third, 2009's The Concealers — suggests that the bandmembers either fear that they are living on borrowed time or simply bent on unloading a massive backlog of songs upon the populace. Whatever the case may be, the self-titled Dååth represents a step forward by means of a step backward, since it sees the Atlanta, GA-based quintet cautiously flirting with the symphonic, electronic, and industrial elements that so dominated its first two efforts, after virtually abandoning them on the aforementioned third album. Caution is the operative word, however, because these elements rarely exceed the role of embellishments on what are otherwise some of the most brutal quasi-black metal assaults of Dååth's career (see "Destruction/Restoration," "Exit Plan," "Accelerant," etc.) and, in the case of bipolar opener "Genocidal Maniac," almost comical in moving from "Lick My Love Pump" territory to gratuitous violence with troubling ease. In essence, this state of affairs is another reminder that now it's the guitar-wielding duo of Eyal Levi and Emil Werstler (whose superlative lead work remains a must-hear proposition in its own right) running the Dååth show, instead of the band's original Kabbalah-inspired keyboard player and chief composer, Mike Kameron. And while the new band has yet to live up to the uniqueness of Kameron's original vision — both musical and thematic — there now seems to be a real opportunity to do so moving forward, thanks to promising standouts such as "Double Tap Suicide," "Arch (Enemy) Misanthrope," "Manufactured Insomnia," and the instrumental "Terminal Now," where those returning electronic trimmings work wonders to separate them from the surrounding stampeding herd. Now Dååth just need to hope that their sales receipts and professional backers will continue to support them through this extended transition process (not usually the case in a music industry that's largely forgotten about long-term artist development), and see them through to that promised land.