Daath - The Hinderers

Daath is an unusual band in many ways. They are a band with a philosophy and a plan. Their songs explore themes associated with the Qabalistic Tree of Life and Death. And instead of writing lyrics about chicks, partying, or the last horror movie they saw, Daath's lyrics are based on what their web site describes as the following: "Each of our songs is an aspect of the adverse side of the human psyche. Using Gematria we research and data mine the theme for that song. Gematria is a sort of Numerology that uses Hebrew characters to derive values. Each of these values hold with it a particular meaning. Data mining for a song will eventually yield the meaning for that song." Pretty deep stuff.

Several members of Daath attended the Berklee College Of Music in Boston and obviously paid attention in class. The songs are really well-written with a lot of different influences and top notch musicianship. The core of the songs on The Hinderer is melodic death metal, but you'll also hear elements of thrash metal, black metal and industrial. They have the versatility to get into a really catchy groove, but can also pull off a technical and colder sound. The vocals are death metal style, but Sean Farber uses a lot of variation in pitch and intensity which adds a little variety.

Part of Daath's manifesto is to record 13 albums of 13 songs each. That's a bold goal, but if they keep releasing albums as good as The Hinderers they are well on their way.