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We see a lot of Black Metal coming from France, but the last Death Metal band I heard from there must have been Gurkkhas, so it's been a while. I'm always a bit suspicious when I see something with the Death Metal stamp coming in, because very often we're dealing with hyperspeed modern Death Metal or worse, Grindcore. Thankfully this (unfortunately too short) CD from Tales of Blood is all about old school Death Metal. This is some thrashy Death just the way I like it (clickety-click hyperspeed drumming quickly gets old, after all.) Some "tasteful" death growls (i.e. it doesn't sound like the guy is puking his breakfast in the microphone), enough slower drumming to give the songs some personality, and thrashy riffs that you can actually decipher. Simple recipe long forgotten by many that favor speed over anything else. Other than the short length (well, it's an EP) and a little bit of an overall unidimensional feel, there's nothing to complain about. Nothing new in this, but how many bands can claim otherwise. That satisfied my craving for old school Death for the day.