Style: Old School Death Metal, Death Metal, Technical Death Metal (Harsh Vocals)
Recommended for fans of: Death, Nile, Cynic, Control Denied
Review by: Mathis
Country: US-ID
Release date: 07 September, 2022
Death metal has never been a big genre for me, I’ve always sort of tiptoed around it; I’ve tried sub genres like deathcore, tech death, and deathgrind, but never gave death metal much attention. One of the only death metal artists I’ve found that I enjoy is Death. I love the creative and technical riffs they use, how frequently they change tempo, and the paradoxical, structured chaos. Other bands in the genre all sound so similar to me, and I was surprised to discover that one of the founding bands of death metal sounds so much more fun and unique than all of the bands they’ve inspired. The team at the Subway have been essential in my exposure to interesting death metal, and as per usual they provided me with an awesome recommendation! Barn, a neo-old school death metal band composed of five kids – the reincarnation of Death.
Barn’s Habitat is the ideal way for kids born in the 90’s and later to experience old school death metal. Most of my generation have been spoiled by the modern day technology now used in music production. Kids these days, am I right? Well, luckily for myself and others like me, Habitat is very clean and crisp; every bass line, frantic drum fill, and nutty riff are equally accounted for and administered. In nearly every aspect, Barn is a Death worship band. Chuck Schuldiner is listed as the primary influence on Barn’s about page on Spotify, and if you’ve ever heard Schuldiner’s guitar work you can hear the impact he’s had on these kids right out the gate.
There are a few influences in Habitat other than Schuldiner and Death, but they are far less notable. The vocals have more range than Schuldiner’s do, oftentimes employing lower growls that sound more like what you might hear from Nile. Cymbals cling, clang, ting, and tang; and maybe it’s just the modern day production emphasizing the metallic chatter, but it reminds me of Tony Westermark’s cymbal heavy style in Soreption. The fretless bass brings to mind a number of artists that opt for fretless bass as well, but I am reminded more of Cynic than funky fretless bass found in bands like First Fragment or Equipoise. “Ancient Animosity” in particular has a section around the four minute mark with light plucky guitars and winding bass lines that give me Cynic vibes.
In all honesty there isn’t much sense in breaking down each track, there aren’t any tracks that standout as better or worse than the rest. They all have an abundance of spectacular riffs, so much so that it’s jarring. It seems like Barn came up with a plethora of ideas and wanted to use them all in the eight tracks that inhabit Habitat; it’s like eating eight servings of slightly different pasta dishes. It’s a delicious feast that leaves you bloated, it can hit the spot, or leave you with regrets, and clutching a bottle of Pepto Bismol.
The term “worship” in the prog community often holds a negative connotation, so I try not to use it, but Barn is an exception. They mimic Death to a fault. Throughout Habitat I rarely heard any original or unexpected musical feats, and on the rare occasions that I did hear something interesting and different it was gone lickety-split. Does this make Barn a bad no no copycat worship band? Heavens to Betsy, no! I actually found their last album to be even more similar to Death than Habitat is, so it seems like the youngsters are slowly establishing their own sound. I think their biggest concern should be cutting content; this album is amazing, but way too long. Eight tracks in sixty-seven minutes is insane, but sometimes kinda cool…sometimes.
Recommended tracks: Predatory, Cave, Ancient Animosity
You may also like: Contrarian, Atomic Witch, Atvm, Overtoun
Final verdict: 7/10
Related links: Bandcamp | Spotify | YouTube | Official Website | Metal-Archives page
Label: Independent
Barn is:
Reece Howell (Vocals)
London Howell (Guitar)
Dante Haas (Drums)
Indy McCarter (Guitar)
Ian Dodd (Bass)
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