http://m.thrashhead.com/cotds.html
BAND: CHILDREN OF THE DYING SUN
ALBUM: Iron God Killer
YEAR: 2011
LABEL:
S/R
Written By: Josh Mosh
CHILDREN OF THE DYING SUN have a very long name and from here on out I will refer to them as COTDS.
I always think of the northeast as the land of metalcore, maybe it's because so many of those bands from that first big wave came from there. COTDS subscribe to the regional sounds and on their first track of this 3 song demo 'Bleeding into Black' they downright remind me of KILLSWITCH ENGAGE, with the clean choruses surrounded by brutal hardcore seeded with the technical prowess of metal. Or...the MAIDEN influence in hardcore.
I'll admit it, I was a big fan of the first few KSE records and thought they were really fresh, powerful yet melodic without being wimpy. Again, COTDS do a decent job of capturing that feeling as well. There is no denying that COTDS are packed with talent and have the chops. Where I would challenge them is on originality. I have nothing wrong with wearing your influences on your sleeve but I challenge any band to push the envelope, use the influence, don't mimic it. It's tough to be completely original in music today, you can only play so fat, so slow, growl so low or scream so high, it's all been done. But where true originality can and should come from is the heart, the spirit and the meaning behind the music is where bands stand out from one another. The spirit is there, I encourage COTDS to embrace it and become their own band.
COTDS can play some brutal beat down-core in the vein of BLOOD FOR BLOOD and I imagine the pit at their shows is gnarly. They tip their hats to local heroes SSD with a completely original cover. They do an amazing job of capturing the spirit of the original while completing twisting it into almost another song. How the styles of their technical hardcore intertwine with the simplicity of early SSD is wonderful and the Oi influenced chorus ads yet another turn making this a really fun and exciting jam.
This is a demo and demos are meant to get your band out there for cheap and to scrutinize yourself. What would you change? What would you do different or better? Again, this is a band with a ton of promise and I hope to hear more from them as they continue to hone their craft.
