DAM is an English death metal band that gained some attention with their debut Purity: The Darwinian Paradox and although that album might have been a bit too close to the band Death in terms of the music, the band was one to watch out for. 2007 saw the release of DAM’s second album The Difference Engine.

In the time between the debut and The Difference Engine, the band has evolved and broken out of its death metal shell. The music is still mostly death metal but there are some vaguely black metal sounding parts happening every now and then and a Celtic Frost vibe to some of the songs. Still, the one band that DAM sound like is Death and Mirror Image Ritual could have come off the Symbolic album if not for the layered clean vocals and quasi melodic break. The band wears it’s influences on it’s sleeve but at the same time makes sure to add enough original touches so there are no real charges of plagiarism. Made of Beasts is an old school death metal beast complete with a blast beat workout and some guttural vocals and is one of the high points of the album.

The musicianship is of a uniformly high quality with the drummer in particular pulling off some complex stuff and really lifting the songs on The Difference Engine to above average. Immolation seems to have become a favourite band for bands to sound like and you can see the Immolation influences on this album particularly Gangrene, Purulence, Impact and parts of Made Of Beasts while album closer This Has Nothing To Do With Apathy starts with a lurching dirty riff that sounds like Celtic Frost circa To Megatherion. Again though, the band sounds a bit like a lot of bands you know but somehow rein themselves in before the inevitable cries of “rip-off” begin.

Dam sound like a band with tons of potential. Like they could be capale of releasing music that will blow the listener’s mind. Unfortunately, The Difference Engine has not reached those heights. While it is a good showing from the band, I think they still show off their influences too much . You can pick out the parts that sound like Death, Immolation or Celtic Frost. A truly great album may be just around the corner for DAM but till then The Difference Engine is sort of like meat and potatoes extreme metal.



Year Of Release - 2007
Label - Candlight