Resurrection

Chunky American-style death metal that despite several prescient additions to the genre never managed to distinguish itself.

Resurrection - Embalmed Existence (1993)
Resurrection - Ritual Slaughter (2007)

Embalmed Existence

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1993

Production: Morrisound-era thick and unified production.

Review: With typical Floridian death metal aplomb, Resurrection forge a poetry of violence from a primal rhythm and a microfugue of counterthemes that when played in linear time, create an ambience of pattern variation that suggests possibility more than certainty, and in its protean redirection of structure between riff and chorus and the paired themes that introduce them, gives songs a chance like small cities to specialize in distinct variations for each function they introduce. Lacking the outright jaunty bounce and chorus throb of heavy metal, this style aims for "heavy" by resolving offbeats into cadences and using expectation of rhythm to create emptiness when configured so that its fulfillment occurs through a lack of complement.

Tracklist:
1. Disembodied (3:20)
2. Rage Within (4:01)
3. Embalmed Existance (4:30)
4. Smell of Blood (3:53)
5. Torture Chamber (3:53)
6. Eyes of Blind (5:05)
7. Test of Fate (4:11)
8. Pure Be Damned (5:13)
9. War Machine (KISS cover) (4:37)
Length: 38:43

Resurrection - Embalmed Existence - Death Metal 1993 Relapse

Like most Tampa-style death metal, these songs divide their time between rapid strumming of notes and chords and a clattering, staggered collision between continuity and abrupt poise in interruption, leading to comparisons to Obituary and Malevolent Creation in their specific mix. The vocalist prefers an extended whispershriek like that of the black metal which followed this style chronologically, draping phrases in halftime with translucent sound. The combination builds rhythm aggressively in the classic death metal style, with the martial drumming of Alex Marquez accenting each riff with prescience of where it will fit into the overall maze; like all good ciphers, death metal is axiomatic: once its initial boundary and precepts are accepted, the final set of themes return order to what otherwise seem like chaotic tangents unrelated to the fundamental patterns of the song.

One technique overused here is the tendency of leading up to a pause, and then letting rhythmic anticipation fuel the suspension of listener disbelief necessary to accept the next riff pattern as integral, but this is endemic to rock music and metal as a whole. Although songs are similar in technique, their moods are distinctive, and the basic cadences of the band become universal enough to be seen as style and not individualized song. Unfortunately, some idiot tells "clever" microstories at the beginning of each track, ranting about cliched topics like insanity, depravity and misanthropy. This poor decision turned more metalheads away from this album than can be counted, preventing this album of moderate quality from being recognized as a part of the death metal pantheon.

Tracklist
1. Unholy (3:17)
2. Onward (3:39)
3. Ritual Slaughter (4:31)
4. Death by Desire (2:49)
Length: 14:17

Ritual Slaughter (2007)
Demonstrating great potential, then turning off half of their audience by having some clever monkey sprawl out spoken word cryptids of humor between tracks, then vanish, Resurrection sowed the seeds for a past they would need to disinter back in 1993 when "Embalmed Existence" represented a potential direction for Florida death metal: the chanting choruses of Exhorder mated to the slow melodic build-up of Obituary, with the charging riff creativity of Monstrosity. Returning from the past back to the present, Resurrection attempt to forge a new path for their name with a new release which shows a great deal of promise but has not yet found its balance. Filtered away from rhythm, songwriting has improved with a line-drive style that incorporates disparate riffs without getting lost and brings back the thunderous chorus entrypoints of heavy metal bands. It has simplified itself without losing the dynamics of radical tempo shifts and riff form alteration that made the original great. Like Celtic Frost's "Monotheist," it often resembles expressively self-reliant music in search of an aesthetic outlook. Songwriting reaches us through rhythm and phrasing which have been simplified as those aforementioned Exhorder elements devolve toward Pantera-levels of simplicity. The reduced riff salad serves the tonal development of each song well but backs down from the flourishing of pattern wisdom that makes death metal distinctive, complementing a tendency to establish fertile harmonic ground for melodic lead rhythm patterns which evoke the best work of Iron Maiden or Metallica; the stripped-down song patterns, much like those of Immolation, allow atavistic creativity through forging unison on recognition of rhythmic focal points. This strength is a weakness however; riffs bouncy in the style of Exodus lose much of their metalness, and while this album has great potential, it buries it in strobing recursions of expectant rhythm which lead it away from aspiration to a compromise seemingly designed to please an anticipated audience.