Epidemic
The Man That Kills Himself

October 2007
Released: 2006, Self-released
Rating: 2.5/5
Reviewer: Luxi Lahtinen

Israel probably isn´t one of those countries that one expects a lot of metal bands to come from. Of course bands like Salem, Melechesh, Eternal Grey, Bishop of Hexen, Orphaned Land and a few others are some of those names from the Israeli metal scene that have gained some name for themselves on the international metal ground by releasing albums of quality, and even got a respectable fanbase for their own bands.



Epidemic also hail from Israel, and they name such bands as Megadeth, Deicide, Slayer, Marilyn Manson (what!), etc. as for their influences. They have released a couple of demos (EVIL AGAINST EVIL in 2005 - and EARTH PENITENTIARY in 2006) prior to their latest 2-song single, titled THE MAN THAT KILLS HIMSELF.



This latest single from them, which introduces Epidemic as a pretty diverse sounding metal act that seems to be passionate enough for not being afraid of stretching their sound towards some non-metal direction even. However, I´m not sure whether they even know how or what kind of direction they want this band to develop musically toward to. I mean, as this is ´only´ a single, presenting 2 very different songs from them, it´s kind of hard to say nearly about anything how they want people to see them; how they´d want Epidemic to stand out as a band. They do fuse bits from thrash metal to death metal, but also adding a whole bunch of other non-metal, experimental elements into their sound, which at least partly works out decent way in a song, "The Man That Killed Himself". But then again, the other song out of these 2 songs on the same single, which they have decided to name just as a ´hidden track´, takes them very far from the basic musical thrash/death concept they had on their previous demo, EARTH PENITENTIARY. The song is actually a ballad type of song, sung with their own language. If getting more credit as an original or unique band is what they are after for with this particular song in question, then they certainly have managed to gain strong bits from those directions for themselves. However, it´s, in a way, a bit of a pity because when the band just concentrates on doing their straight thrash/death shredding, they sound pretty good and seem to be at their best - and therefore they should rather stick with things a bit more simple, instead of widening their sound toward new musical areas too much.



And that´s what they have most likely done as they have put up a brand-new song (called "Then") on their Myspace site, which has greater promise as far as their forthcoming stuff is concerned. Good for them, I guess.