Even Lubbock, TX -- a college town in the middle of nowhere best known for the alt-country likes of
Terry Allen and
the Flatlanders -- had to get its very own sludgy black metal act eventually.
The Dead See get points for their punny name, but after that, there is unfortunately little originality to be found on
Through the Veil. Check the song titles: "Dead Man's Throne," "Kingdom of Shit" and "Traversing the Mountain of Knives" all sound like Death Metal 101 rejects. Similarly, Mark Key's gruff (but happily Cookie Monster-free) vocals and his unison guitar riffs with Neil Barrett are merely adequate, with little to differentiate them from most of the dozens of similar bands in the metal underground. There's nothing actively wrong with
Through the Veil, but only the most die-hard fan of the doom metal style is going to be particularly taken by it. ~ Stewart Mason