Camilla Rhodes

Like The Word Love On The Lips Of A Harlot
Galy Records

7.5/10 – don’t judge a cd by its cover (or stupid ass song titles!)

9 tracks; 35:16

This was not what I expected at all! I’ll admit, I judged this release based solely on the name of the band, even before listening to a single note. I mean, you can’t tell me you didn’t do exactly the same thing, right? What the hell kinda name is ‘Camilla Rhodes’ anyway? It conjures up the image of a bunch of whiny, snot-nosed, screamo, luke-skywalker hair geeks - who were just dumped by their girlfriends and, being on the verge of suicide, decided to name their band after one of said girlfriends. Now, this could most certainly be the case but, for my own sanity, I’m gonna believe it not to be true.

Suffice it to say, Camilla Rhodes (hailing from Montreal) are not what their name would have you believe. Yes, they could be considered a metalcore band, but they are so much more than that. The best way to describe their sound would be to take Despised Icon & tone down the technicality 10 notches and up the groove factor a few notches. Like Despised, Camilla has the duel screamo/death vox thing down pat, as well as the heavy ass mosh-pit breakdowns for all the hardcore kiddies. I dunno what it is, but metalcore & brutal death metal just seem to work well together. Where Despised Icon lean towards the death metal side of things, Camilla Rhodes are more comfortable exploring metalcore, especially in regards to the vocals. Come to think of it, at times they remind me of Refused… this is some seriously catchy/addictive shite! Even the sporadic use of clean vocals works very well here, I just wish they had incorporated it more often.

The more I listen to this, the more I totally dig it. My only real concern would be potential DM fans passing up on this due to the overt metalcore imagery & packaging, especially concerning the band name & the ridiculously long song titles. Let’s face it, metalcore is on its way out & it’d be a sad day indeed if Camilla Rhodes went out along with it. For your own sake guys, do something about the imagery before it’s too late… long live (place new name here)!

Jason Deaville