The first band to really catch my interest on Saturday at the Metal Meltdown, Myself Am Hell blend equal parts speed and death on their self-titled 5 song CD. Just what the hell does that mean? Well, the speed's in the song structures, which contain healthy guitar riffage inspired by bands such as Testament and Vicious Rumors and the death takes form in Justin Klenosky's vocals, best described as severe grind, American style. Rhythmically, the disc straddles the line, with near-constant streams of double bass, yet a slightly progressive touch at times. With a basic description under your belt, I guess you're ready for my thoughts on the disc. Overall, it's good, and I like it more after repeated listens, but I almost sense a band getting comfortable with themselves in the studio, for quite a bit of the cohesiveness and progression that I heard live doesn't really jump to the forefront on the disc. This may be due to the production, or lack of infinite time to lock everything together in the studio since this is an independent release. Performance-wise, the guitar work is strong (to my layman's ears) especially in the solo work. Lyrically, it's pretty grim stuff, lurking in the darker side of consciousness, delivered in true demonic fashion. To me, the combination of all this works well, for I do hear the speed metal influences, which also make tracks a bit more memorable. So while I consider this a good release for the time it was done, I'm anxious to hear some newer material now that the band has had more time to acclimate to each other in studio and live performance situations.

Ah, just the disc I was waiting for at Metalfest this year, and for once I'm not disappointed. You may have read my review of their 1997 S/T in issue two, an album which was good, yet paled in comparison to when the material was performed live at the Metal Meltdown. Well, any problems I had with disc one are rectified here, as MAH have managed to not only write some truly technical riffs, but have arranged and performed them perfectly as well. Performaces are tight, yet not stiff, as guitarists Tichenor and Klenosky lock into each other to form a solid base for their impressive lead work. I'd lay money that these guys sit in their hotel room and practice before a show. In fact, it's blatantly obvious that all these guys are technically proficient, something common in guitarists, but fairly rare in drummers. Creating patterns not confined to standard bashings, Romanowski supports the songs, but makes sure that he is noticed as well. From listening and seeing these guys again, I'd say that this man's drum inspirations are based in fusion, making things more interesting. And then we come to the vocals... Usually the weakest link in any band, how many times have you heard a cool song, only to spit beer when some tinkerbell starts to wail incessently about dungeons and dragons? Well, be assured that you won't find that here, the younger Klenosky (he of the fangs) belting out some frighteningly intelligent lyrics (hey, you're shattering my conceptions, metalheads are supposed to be dumb!) at frequencies which balances power and grind. The subject matter may be considered "blashpemous" to those that still attend Sunday school, but read between the lines to get a complete understanding. Light years better than their debut, The World I Died For is a musician's paradise, hampered only slightly by the fact that this disc was self-produced, and lacks that $50,000 Andy Sneap sound, which may bother some who need that extra layer of gloss (which also serves to mask unoriginal songs played by the numbers, I may add), but think of this as the demo which will get these guys signed, for that's my prediction here. I await the day when these guys can finally record on a budget representative of their abilities.