One of the best releases I’d received in 2004 was the debut full length offering To Exist and Endure by melodic death metallers Estuary. Led by aggressive female vocalist Zdenka Prada, the material the band recorded was among the best thrash-inspired melodic death metal I’ve heard and I was eager to hear more.

2007’s The Craft of Contradiction picks up where To Exist and Endure left off with 10 more tracks of thrashy melodic death metal with plenty of great riffs, tremolo picking galore, wild 80s thrash flavored solos and inhumanly throaty vocals. Musically Estuary are equal parts melodic Swedish death metal, American death metal and Bay Area thrash.

Estuary continue to be a guitar driven band, with the material overflowing with displays of guitar mastery. The songs themselves are mid to high paced "galloping" melodic death thrash. The chugging thrash riffs are catchy and memorable with plenty of ear-pleasing solos strewn throughout. Every few seconds you’ll catch another element, one second you swear you hear something straight out of an old 80s thrash album and the next you swear you must be listening to a Swedish death metal outfit and the next you think you’re listening to NWOBHM. There’s just so much going on it takes several listens to catch everything.

The drumming is solid and compliments the guitar playing perfectly and the deep death rasps of Zdenka are the most powerful of any female vocalist I’ve heard to date. To be honest, I don’t think there’s a single vocal style that suits this music better than hers do, which is surprising considering so many female vocalists (ie. Angela Gossow) completely suck.

The Craft of Contradiction is great for any fans of melodic death metal, melodic thrash metal or any variation of the two. I do feel this album isn’t as memorable as To Exist and Endure however, but it’s still a solid piece of music that will appeal to broad audience. Good stuff!

Written By: Teufel