End of All

Band – End Of All
Album – Paradise Burning
Release Date – 2004
Label – Venge Records
Our Rating - 88

Sometimes when you first listen to a new CD, all you can say is ‘Wow.’ Usually it’s followed by “this is an atrocious heap of shit,” but other times you’re moved to a different type of exclamation; an exclamation of giddy, metal glee. Luckily, End Of All’s new full-length falls into the latter camp, and for good reasons: this is fun, absurd metal that thrives on a sense of pure, unadulterated evil. This is exactly the kind of album you’re glad to have on hand in order to scare away little old women and obnoxious children who dare to wander too closely. In other words, it has the staunch, unpretentious charm of a good hardcore band, and the sheer terror that only a good metal band can provoke.
For those who enjoyed their last release on Tribunal, expect much, much more from “Paradise Burning.” An abundance of odd movie clips, twice the number of songs, and yes, utter brutality put this album miles above their self-titled effort. It’s hard to say what End Of All is now, but it’s clear that they’ve moved away from sounding completely inhuman, dark, and menacing. For a good portion of the time, the band still approaches their music in a decidedly metalcore/grind metal fashion, but at other times, the band will spin off in a completely different fashion, moving from an unabashedly heavy breakdown with death metal growls to a jazzy drum and guitar bit with little or no notice. Present as well are a multitude of lighting fast guitar solos and riffs that would sound sloppy if they didn’t also sound like they were made up on the spot.
And perhaps it’s this spontaneity that makes this album so great to listen to, for it’s clear that all the members are incredibly proficient in making music; so much so that it’s hard to imagine why other bands can take their playing so seriously. To be honest, too, I can’t help feeling like End Of All is simply making fun of metal in the process. “Paridise Burning” comes off as almost too metal, too fast, and too evil to be taken seriously as well. Despite such suspicions, however, this album is just too good to pass up. Every track has something to offer, Sadly, there’s not enough room (or enough patience on behalf of the reader, most likely) to go through each song individually to highlight the best tracks, simply because every track has something to offer – be it death metal, grind, power metal, mock metal, or just straight up heavy metal. Furthermore, I doubt I could really explain just how spastic and strange this album sounds. Maybe it’s just something that needs to be listened to in order to be understood.
A final note on the production is in order as well: Everything is mixed well enough on this album, but I think someone forgot to master this thing. This gives the album an abrasive, rough feel, especially since the vocals sound like they’re running through an all-tube amp with every dial turned up to max and a distortion pedal added on for good measure. Don’t expect any over-polished gem here.

Bottom Line: End Of All is a band that almost faded into obscurity but has somehow again popped out of nowhere to create an album that is so raw and appealing that its sole purpose seems to be to render one’s aural capacities useless. Play this loud, play it proud, play it in the most inappropriate places you can find – it’s sure to piss someone off.

Track Listing:
1. Dependence on a False World
2. Down With All We Have
3. Case Number 231: Murder or Morality
4. Killed By Your Thoughts
5. Digging For Bones
6. Remove the Screws
7. I Never Said It Would End Like This
8. The Water Also Rises
9. This Is Where It Ends
10. Modern Ways of Living
11. I’ve Lost So Much Already
12. Lost in Translation
13. Wait, There Is Still Time...
14. A Cage to Hold a Million...
15. Hidden
Our Favorite Track :: This Is Where It Ends

(Album Reviewed By Jhonn Thomassen for Lambgoat.com – 03/10/04)
- Lambgoat.com

North Carolina is quickly becoming the new hotbed for cutting-edge extreme metal in the the U.S. It's no surprise that End Of All were spawned by the same scene that gave us Between The Buried And Me and Glass Casket, both of whom are as progressive as they are brutal. End Of All's "Paradise Burning" delivers abrasive grind/death/core fusion with that distinct "southern" flair that many of us Pantera fans love so dearly.

"Paradise Burning" is an impressive melange of various metal extremes, including grind, black metal, death metal, mathcore, sludge, and more. Although the majority of songs leave you with a grindcore aftertaste, mainly due to frequent audio samples, high-end cacaphonous screams and machine-like snare attacks, there's a LOT more to this record than most grind albums. The vocals come in a variety of flavors, including high-end grind screams, gurgled death growls, and my favorite, gutteral roars that sounds a lot like a distorted Randy Blythe (Lamb Of God). The assortment of vocal styles are switched up frequently, and contrast well with the equally scatterbrain guitar work. There's some Swedish thrash, some mathcore fret insanity, chuggy "core" breakdowns, and slower/sludgier installments that border on doom and sludge, many of which would make Dimebag proud. The drumming also runs the full gamut of metal extremes; some verses are characterized by jazzy high-hat/snare interplay, while others focus on groovy double bass drum work.

The sheer diversity of musical ideas on "Paradise Burning" is a double-edged sword for End Of All. With each musician contributing such an eclectic palette of styles, the resulting music is very extreme and very dynamic. If nothing else, songs have enough transitions to never let the listener get bored. On the other hand, the lack of a central idea/concept leaves the majority of songs sounding TOO varied and scatterbrain. These guys can bring together some of the heaviest flavors of metal into a single riff or guitar/drum combination, but the tracks sound more like an exploration or a montage than an actual "song". Perhaps this is what End Of All were aiming for all along, in which case I should just shut up. As I see it, the many brutal verses and choruses would have twice the impact they do on "Paradise Burning" if songs were slightly more focused, i.e. if they revolved around a central, quirky riff. Songs like "This Is Where It Ends", "I Never Said It Would End Like This", and "The Water Also Rises" have a healthy balance of brutality, quirks, and perpetual motion. I'm also not a big fan of the many sound samples; I understand they add character to a song and do wonders for grind bands, but given how eclectic End Of All are, to me the samples just waste precious time that could be used for a buildup or reprise.

Don't let that last paragraph scare you away from listening to this band. End Of All are heavy as all hell, and the exploratory nature of "Paradise Burning" has given the band enough musical liberty to dabble is some very quirky forms of metal. As far as first full-length albums go, this is an incredibly solid effort on the part of a band who have the skills and a necessary understanding of extreme metal to be huge. As they play more shows and write more material, their new material will be inherently more nuclear and focused as End Of All further define their own sound.
- Uraniummusic.com

OK... I'm not going to say it isn't good (it's great!!), but End of All have delivered a fucked up Cephalic Carnage meets Anal Cunt-type Grind/Death. "Paradise Burning" may require several listens before any shred of coralation in song structures are recognized. As a matter of fact, much of this chaos is molded together by horrific samples, unexpected solos & melodies and blast beats. I very much appreciate the many directions each passage takes as well. As a matter of fact, if the band can remember which song is which on stage, I would recommend brilliant future acting careers. Damnit all, I can hear a lot of shit here! I think it was the beginning of "Lost in Translation" that reminded me of an Aerosmith song (they may kill me for mentioning that, hehe). There were others with doom elements, 80's rock elements, some jazz/new age elements, even shades of bluegrass!! Not only can you find humor in some of the tracks, you can completely appreciate the transitions in various worldwide forms of music. How they do it is beyond me. End of All probably just sat down and threw various riffs together for a complete song. That's just my view on the subject. I like it, they like it, it's different, they should keep doing it....

Rating: 82

Reviewed By: Thomas Mitchell - Metalfanatix.com

I know I reviewed End Of All's last CD, but I don't remember it sounding anything like this. Did this band pull the ultimate 360? I swear that their self-titled album on Tribunal Records was more of a mid-tempoed death metal affair. Well, let me introduce you to the new and improved grinding End Of All. On "Paradise Burning", this band have morphed into a more progressive outfit. No, they're not mimicking Dream Theater in all their musical wanking glory. What I'm saying is that they've broken the chains of being a death metal band and play a more fully encompassing style of music now. The band switch fluently between metalcore, death metal, furious grind, tech metal and even jazz across the CD - sometimes even with the same song. The vocals are as multi-faceted as the music, going from barks to guttural growls and everywhere in between. All of this is capped off by a new drummer who is so machine-like I swore it was a drum machine before I read the bio. He's very precise.
I like this one. I got a lot more than I was expecting out of "Paradise Burning". It's a very forward-thinking album which should appeal to both fans of metalcore and technical grind ala Killwhitneydead.

- into-obscurity.com

Combing a sound mix of influences ranging from death, grind, bluegrass, and even classic hair metal, End Of All deliver what they call "their most brutal" release to date. I can only imagine what their debut on Tribunal Records must sound like. This release is an intense and blistering collection of songs. Not only their most brutal installment to date but possibly the most brutal release to date. Very hooky riffs and well written brutality. Each track starts off with a little horror movie tidbit, which is almost too much for my taste, but they do seem to accent the songs. End Of All have been tearing up N. Carolina and the surrounding states since the spring of 2000. In support of their second full length release, they will be touring 2004 with The Autumn Gathering and The Judas Cradle. End Of All offers metal fans" something familiar as well as something ground breaking". Will appeal to fans of Soilent Green, Skinless, Cannibal Corpse, etc.. A brutally, grinding mix of all of the above and beyond . - ballbusterhardmusic.com

Review by Abomb

Picture As I Lay Dying meets Slayer. Throw in some Agony Scene for good measure, and you have a very good portrait of what End of All sound like. Haunting twin guitars at breakneck speed turn on a dime, diving into Hatebreed-worthy breakdowns, only to come back with the crunch and groove of The Agony Scene in no time. The vocals are for the most part a glorified version of the aforementioned bands of their genre, specifically The Agony Scene. There are times when the shrieking turns guttural, such as in “Case Number 231” which definitely gives Mr. Barnes of Six Feet Under a tip of the hat. All this and I still have not mentioned that End of All accomplishes this complete sound without having a bass player. But yet, they don’t really need one. At least on Paradise Burning, it works fine. Live may be another story, but I have a feeling that there is enough going on that one may actually be avoided altogether. It hasn’t really been effectively done yet in a metal act, but if anyone can do it, End of All is definitely promising at least. To top it all off, they throw in a plethora of horror movie samples, maybe the most tastefully done the genre has seen to date (although Nothingface will always give them a run for the money). Each sample seems to have something specifically to do with the content of the particular song that it comes before or during. To chalk it all up, this album is quite an aural experience, ranging in everything from quiet interludes that last only a few seconds to bludgeoning you back with driving rhythms and one hell of a twin guitar attack. These guys show a hell of a lot of promise, and an underground scene is finally starting to form here which excites me. It’s been a while since there has been a really solid underground scene, and these guys, along with the likes of Something Must Die, Byzantine, Mastodon, etc…metal is finally shaping up to retake its position at the top of the list.
- pivotalrage.com

Label: Venge Records Year: 2004 By: standXalone
Rating:
Number of Views: 91
End of All are another reason why North Carolina is quickly becoming a hotbed of metal contenders. I’ve had their first release “S/T” for some time now, but was never really impressed by it, but after hearing this disc, I have become a fan. Guitar work is insane, with a double axe attack at breakneck speeds, while the drumming is following closely behind preparing a solid, and machine-gun-like attack. Vocals are some of the deepest, most guttural, screams and growls. To top it all off, they throw in a plethora of horror movie samples. Each sample seems to have something specifically to do with the content of the particular song that it comes before or during. After everything is said and done, End Of All have created an album that will bludgeon every listener with a blunt object, and force them to continue listening. This is an amazing metal/death metal/grind/metalcore release, I recommend it to any fan of heavy music.


- thesaultmusicscene.com

End Of All – Paradise Burning (Venge Records, 2004)

Crossover. Not so pure and not so simple. I can see how this would definitely appeal to fans of December, Skinless, and even Lamb of God. This is a great album of mixed sounds from start to finish. There are blast beats, screaming vocals, thick grooves, fast picking leads, abusive and almost tribal drums, death metal roars, and that’s just by the time track #2 rolls around! Sick stuff, for sure.

The use of sound bites prior to most of the songs can be a bit distracting, and the longer ones certainly are, but they also serve as a reprieve between blistering tracks. The album I got to review was not a final pressing, but rather a CD-R, and so the final mix might be a bit better, but this disc that I have tends to sound like a demo at times, albeit a well recorded and produced one. Maybe it’s because I’ve got a CD-R…. but I’ll quit bitchin’.

Regardless, this band has some undeniable chops. Who knew that the land of the tarheels could spawn such a metallic monster? Maybe they should rename the area Chapel Hell in (dis)honor of End Of All. This is a really solid album that is capable of generating a lot of buzz if given the proper legs on which to walk. These guys could easily find a home on Prosthetic Records, particularly if a band like Crematorium already has a home there. No disrespect to Venge Records, but a band like this could go very far perhaps with a distribution deal through a larger label.

That aside, I am quickly becoming a fan of End Of All, but maybe that is because I am sick for music like this. When I first heard Paradise Burning -- technically the band’s third release -- I immediately thought back to when I first heard December’s Praying… Hoping… Nothing back in 1999. That was a bout of merciless, grinding, hardcore-influenced death metal and this is much in the same vein.

Don’t get me wrong. A lot of End Of All’s sound is definitely borrowed, but they put it together quite well. The trio of bands I likened them to earlier is a very good indication of what this talented group sounds like, so if you like any or all of those bands, you owe it to yourself to check out this band.

Oh, just for a shock or surprise to all you death metalheads, there are almost blue-grass breaks in song #7 (“I Never Said It Would End Like This”) that are followed by thick Ted Nugent-like grooves.

Commenting on production is easy as this was very well put together. All levels of percussion are clearly discernible, which is not always easy to do, particularly with this type of music. The vocals are well done, not being too powerful but still very crisp. The guitar work is great although the leads sometimes sound a bit high in the mix. Also, while the bass is mostly relegated to the background, there are some moments where Terry Butler-styled patterns emerge.

The harmonized guitars that open “This is Where It Ends” hearken back to Iron Maiden… if they were possessed by the evil (un)dead. Excellent, chunky riffing underneath clean tones lead into what could be a ‘single’ if such a market really existed for metal. This song is easily the band’s most varied as it has stop and start riffs and harmonized leads coupled with thunderous drums that bash away maniacally and then the song slows to where it sounds like it’s over only to shred away again. Killer.

“Modern Ways of Living” follows this track and the band loses some steam and even originality with the clean vocals that are present near its end. At least these clean vocals were recorded unlike so many other Shadows Fall and Killswitch Engage clones. In fact, I liken them to the voice of Vision of Disorder’s singer, but not as off-key.

“Lost in Translation” could display the singular heaviest moment in the history of the slide guitar. I like different sounds and this one is killer. This track also boasts the most subterranean guttural vocals on the album accompanied by some truly sick music. ‘Tis a shame it is so short, really.

Lucky track 13 is an exercise in percussive riffing with matching vocals that are preceded by a few rounds of seemingly misplaced Red Hot Chili Peppers-styled strumming. Thankfully the RHCP part of the song is brief.

Regardless of this pair of “indiscretions” (e.g. the clean vocals and RHCPisms), this is a really solid album that thrashes, moshes, slams, and shreds its way from start to finish, even if there is an almost 4 minute gap of nothingness prior to the ‘hidden’ track that has no name but some killer Kirk Hammett-by-way-of-Dimebag influenced leads [before the former went lame] with almost Ozzy-sounding, Helmet-styled vocals admonishing the delivery of cabeza. Funny stuff, guys.

Just take your ass to the Venge Records website and spend a measly $5 to support a band that rightfully deserves more attention. I mean, c’mon. That’s FIVE freakin’ dollars for a full length CD. Just do it. Oh, they also have shirts for a paltry - embark.to/tartareandesire

These guys are coming from North Carolina and their music can be described as brutal and loud death metal combined with elements from various other scenes. Their music might be very brutal and aggressive but on the other hand it is also technical and complex enough. There are some hard core elements in their music and an in your face attitude that suits their sound and style. Some of the arrangements could be a bit better since in certain songs there’s a feeling that the guys are trying hard to incorporate more elements into the song than they should and I still find their sound a bit too modern for my tastes. But still these are minor problems that can easily be improved with hard work and talent and at least talent comes in heavy supplies in this band. I think they can make a difference and if you need more info about the band you can check out their official web site at www.theendofall.com

- tombstone.gr

End Of All likes to use samples in the midst of its music. One of them informs that, "...because hell is repetition." Taking that line to heart, the quartet makes a point of changing its riffing, speed and tempo all the time. Paradise Burning is the band's second album and on it the guys showcase a lot of power and vigour. The band's influences are at the extreme end of the spectrum. The different vocal styles are accompanied by sharp riffing akin to Slayer (on Killed By Your Thoughts for example), Converge, as well as the newer US acts like The Black Dhalia Murder and As I Lay Dying. The band also employs outside influences and throws in the odd jazzy interlude or a Funky Town medley on track 13 or the occasional weaker regular vocals. The drums, depending on the song, have both a heavy and a light sound and even come across as conspicuously mechanical once in a while. Obviously having heard the criticism before the band addresses the topic in the biography. End Of All is both varied and extreme and will appeal to those who do not mind those elements together in their diet. - Ali "The Metallian"
- metallian.com