Sparrows – Mark of the Beast: Indoctrination
Dallas, TX’s own Sparrows is taking the DIY aesthetic to (black) heart with their self recorded, mastered, and released MCD, “Mark of the Beast: Indoctrination. Fierce vocals are at the forefront of this sawing attack and are so effectively harsh/over the top, they sound almost unstable. The vocalist prefers the mid-ranged cancer throat croak, but throws in more of a stretched out, deeper death tone which admittedly doesn’t seem as natural for him, but it does offer a bit of balance to his performance. Out of this batch of 6 songs, “Cellar of the Damned” strikes me as Sparrows most “black” metal in feel song with more mid paced, note based hooks and a swing feel in the riffs that utilizes a violent melody effectively. The rest of the album feels far more death metal minded, with a touch of the Gothenburg melody and detuned heaviness making it’s influence felt. Sparrows has taken control of their own destiny when it comes to marketing and promotion which I can fully respect and the fact that they are good at what they do shows that they believe in what they have accomplished. As I sit here and listen again to this material and enjoy it, I know it’s not really a style that I listen to often and likely won’t return to this MCD, if at all, but I think the band has a fire and execution that will connect to those of you out there that hunger for this full throttled strike of blackened death. -Marty
Self Released
Worm Gear 