MLP Review: "Epicedia (Epic Death Metal)" by Fetid Zombie

Epicedia

It's come to my attention that my guitar teacher is from a different generation than I, a proud member of Gen X.

Sometimes, he doesn't understand my references, like when I used an oft spoken phrase, "paint by numbers."

He also didn't know that Spinal Tap was a movie. I should lend him my copy.

So, let's talk about that overtly cromulent phrase, in case any of my readers are ill informed on it's meaning and etymology.

In the 1970's, before video games, computers, twitter, and other forms of social media were all over the place. We had things like water color, crayons, Lite Brite, and board games to keep us busy. Now, water colors could be used on paint by numbers books. In those books, they printed outlines of pictures with numbers inside of the crevices.

Fetid Zombie aka Mark Riddick

The numbers there corresponded to a color in the legend. When the "painter" was done, all of the color by number pictures should look basically the same.

So, color by numbers, took on a meaning of generic blandness.

As a music journalist blogger, I seek to stamp out color by numbers music by simply pretending it does not exist.

Fetid Zombie is one of those bands/solo acts that solidifies what my tastes are running towards in 2016.

Give Mr. F. Zombie a paint by numbers page and it's basically guaranteed that he will not abide by the numbers and the painting will come out looking fairly whacked out.

Aside from crafting a beautiful LP (1.25 Reign In Bloods in length), Fetid Zombie has expanded the colors available.

There are black metal keyboards, boogie woogie stomp riffs, and operatic backing vocals. The blast beats and the demonic vocals keep this record firmly rooted in death metal, but why limit oneself to simply blast beats and hyper picked riffs, when they could add so much more?

Fetid Zombie never simply accepts being another one of the death metal horde. Doubly amazing is that the listener would never guess that Fetid Zombie is simply the work of a single man and not a dedicated band.

Only Dave Grohl of The Foo Fighters has the same multi-instrumental ability as Mark Riddick of Fetid Zombie to make a solo project sound like a band.

Release: 11/25/16
Genre: Death Metal
Format: CD and Digital
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