The Walking Dead Orchestra is the kind of name that aids in avoiding generalization. Solely based off that moniker I was expecting some half-assed Shock Rock posing as a love letter to Robert Kirkman’s highly overrated zombie soap opera. What did I get instead? In Resurrect (Unique Leader) I was greeted head-on by cage-rattling yet slick sounding Deathcore.

Yes, despite it being its maligned online reputation, Deathcore is still an active musical commodity. Say what you will about the subgenre, when executed well it acts as the perfect appetizer before Cannibal Corpse comes on as the night’s main course. I step out of mosh retirement whenever Oceano (keep your judgement at home) cranks into ‘District of Misery’. And the kind of Deathcore practiced on Resurrect is the kind that gets pits moving and is coming soon to a Summer Slaughter or local deathfest near you.

So, is this French quintet the musical reinvention Deathcore needs? Absolutely not and that’s not what Resurrect was ever intended to be. The music they play, and the T-shirts they wear, clearly show us a band that has an interpretation of the extremity they were raised on. One listen is all you need to catch references or admiration for the work of Whitechapel, Despised Icon, Thy Art Is Murder, Carnifex, Dying Fetus and more. ‘Area of Desolation’ is a heavy instrumental piece molded after Whitechapel’s ‘Death Becomes Him.’ Thy Art Is Murder’s staccato sound is the blueprint to ‘Siamese Traitors,’ although its tight guitar solo helps to break up the pounding. Dying Fetus’ unholy marriage of technical proficiency and bone shattering brutality is the lifeblood of the aptly titled ‘Desecrate’ which also is worth singling out as the best in the album.

And while it’s not going change many minds on Deathcore and has some production trappings (the drums are about as processed as American cheese), Resurrect is a fun and energetic reason to return to the pit. I mean what else are we supposed to do until the headliner comes on?

6.0/10

HANS LOPEZ