The Album Reviews:

	Title: We Are Gathered Here Today... Artist: Glass Casket Label: Abacus Recordings Release Date: 2/10/04	Judgment Committee Reviews	Rating
			3
			3
			4
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Abyss's Review:
You know what I'd really like to see one day? A band that sounds like this but dresses in spandex or leather. Or just something to break them from the mould of all of the other metalcore bands that look like their fashion sense lies somewhere between the kids on The O.C. and Ashton Kutcher.

"One word review: Solid."

Of course, I'm mostly kidding. I don't really care what these guys look like, but every time I get a CD from a metalcore band nowadays I feel like I've already seen them a million times already. I just don't get it when people all look or dress the exact same way as everyone else. Remember the first season of the NBC sitcom Friends? The first season all of the male characters had different haircuts; by the third they all had the same. And why does everyone in Boston wear their baseball caps backwards? You see groups of them walking down the street as if they just encountered a strong gust of wind. But I digress, I should really center this piece on the music.
Glass Casket do a solid job of the deathmetalcore thing, inspiring comparisons with bands like Lamb of God, Meshuggah and Cryptopsy, and a little bit of the experimentation of A Life Once Lost or Dillinger Escape Plan. They also have the standard hardcore breakdowns and sporadic clean vocals that are par for the course, and while they have composed a solid record here - and one that deserves attention - they aren't setting the world on fire with their originality. But fans of this genre shouldn't be very upset by that fact, because the more I listen to this record the more I get into it.
Unfortunately, as soon as it leaves my CD player, I almost forget it completely (this is where I mockingly wish they wore spandex - so I could set them apart from similar acts). If I had some drunken friend berating me about how awesome they are, or educating me on why they're so special, I might find myself reaching for their record more often and with fresher ears. But as it is now, I just consider them a solid band. One word review: Solid.

Death's Review:

"The music is complex and challenging, and the musicianship is good."

Glass Casket is fledgling label Abacus Recordings’ first and most brutal offering thus far, and it is pretty cool. The North Carolina five-piece (formally known as Gadrel) do the death-infused metalcore thing well-enough, and their brand of Dillinger mixed with Cannibal, brutality mixed with chaotic hardcore, is nothing to scoff at. The riffs are there, the screams are solid, and the drumming is aggressive yet experimental. The music is complex and challenging, and the musicianship is good. Still, Glass Casket land as another merely average to average-plus band, mostly because the songwriting is not engaging enough. They have all of the elements in place, but this sound is oversaturated and it is beginning to take a bit more than just “solid” to stand out from the pack. I am confident that Glass Casket can pull off something truly killer, and believe me, there is nothing wrong with We Are Gathered Here Today, it is a really cool album. But I don’t need to hear it and don’t really stay thinking about any of the songs after I’ve turned the stereo off. This is another band that I may need to see live to experience the full impact. Still, there is a lot of potential here, and if they find more of their own sound with the next record, they may be unstoppable.

Hel's Review:
I don’t know what it is about this album, but I find that I forget the songs instantly. I kept thinking that the more familiar with it I became, the less this effect would occur. But I’m now on, like, my twentieth listen, and I just caught myself wondering what album I was listening to – not a good sign.
But I’m starting to think this is a problem that I have with metalcore in general – I often find myself feeling this way when I listen to any band that comes even close to this part of the spectrum – so I really don’t think I ought to take this out too much on the band at hand. Still, I felt the need to share this with anyone who may be having similar issues. That is, if there actually is someone else with this problem…

"If you like your core with a heavy dose of metal, give Glass Casket a spin."

At any rate, Glass Casket has served up a platter of metalcore closer to the metal end of the spectrum. The guitar riffs are often evocative of the post-Gothenburg melodeath movement, while the growled vocals are more death than hardcore. The drummer, always the fundamental element that divides the metalcore from the hardcore, in my opinion, here holds his own well within the chaos and definitely has a metal flair to his playing.
Overall, the musicianship within the band is strong and tight, as this sort of music requires. I could do without the clean vocals, and even more without the spoken word bits, but on the whole this band is one of the better metalcore bands in the grand scheme of things. Personally, I still wish it were more metal and less core, but heck, I always feel that way. If you like your core with a heavy dose of metal, give Glass Casket a spin.

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