Nudged towards this EP by our dear editor Transcendental Being of Extreme Punctuation and fully reeled in by the album cover, I did not know what to expect never having heard of Alluvial before. It turns out that Alluvial sport a sound that reminds me of Dyscarnate‘s With All Their Might if they would also play around with some slams. The four songs on Death Is But A Door cover some different ground in its 17 minutes. “Bog Dweller” has some very intricate drum fills that hint at the band’s past prog chops. The groove in this song sits somewhere between Gojira and Meshuggah and is easy to get swept up in. As the song slows down towards the end it starts a slow march with slams, that persist into the next song. “Fogbelt” takes a much more atmospheric turn with creeping lead-work and a screeching guitar effect that echoes the horror imagery of the cover art. It is a simple trick but no less effective. As “Area Code” arrives at its solo with some wah wah pedal like effect, it becomes clear that Alluvial take a playful approach to songwriting with each song having its own identity.
The title track features some clean vocals that don’t feel as cheesy as these kind of vocal features usually do. It downright sounds like a melodic metalcore refrain but is quickly augmented with heavier fare. The tragic nature of the melody in this song puts a spotlight at how varied this EP is, in contrast to a lot of deathcore that is happy to chase the next best breakdown. It makes a great case for checking out the rest of Alluvial‘s work and it has put them on my radar for their next full length effort. Not bad for an EP.
