Deathonate is a Dutch melodic metal band hailing from the North of the country. Formed in 2005, last year brought the release of their first EP entitled Walk The Line. Let’s see what these young men are made of.

 

Deathonate play a style of melodic (death) metal that immediately reminds of In Flames and the thousands of copies we have of them. Unfortunately it feels like Deathonate won't be walking the line with them, but they’ll be standing in line with the rest of them. Overall it does seem like there is potential in Deathonate, yet it isn’t displayed properly with Walk The Line.

 

Besides that their music lacks total originality, the production isn’t great either. Now I know that it’s hard for a starting band to have a decent studio budget, but there is just too much wrong on this record. The keyboards are way too loud in the mix, the vocals lack power (and are totally one-dimensional, which bores easily) as do the guitars and drums. The overall mix is quite off balance as well. This makes Walk The Line a hard record to listen to, especially since you’ve heard it all before.

 

Personally I’d advise to skip this record. Unless you listen to nothing else than melodic (death) metal in the vein of In Flames, Children Of Bodom and such. For the rest I’d also like to add that I think that Deathonate is sort of a dumb name, and the title Walk The Line is basically patented by Johnny Cash and his lifestyle. Don’t touch this man’s legacy please. For the rest I hope that the potential I hear occasionally in these five tracks will mature for the next record, otherwise they’ll just be another fish in the melodic metal sea.