Review by Adam on February 14, 2005.

I have been looking forward to this release ever since I can remember and as I expected, this is one of the most innovative and crushing death metal albums to come out in quite a while. Anata is part of that special breed of death metal bands that can write an entire album without the music becoming tedious or boring before it’s over. It is all part of the progressive genius that is Anata’s Under a Stone with No Inscription.

This band is so talented it is ridiculous. Each member is a pro at his respective instrument. The great thing about the production is that you can actually hear the bass guitar. Many death metal bands suffer from an overwhelming amount of treble but thankfully Anata got it just right.

The overall style of Under a Stone with No Inscription is fairly progressive. The band is quite sneaky when it comes to throwing time signature changes around. From start to finish, however, this is an uncompromisingly brutal record sure to please any death metal fan. The great thing about Anata is that they play in such an interesting and unique way that they won’t have to worry about their fan-base being limited simply to these kinds of fans alone.

Anata are on the path to death metal supremacy. Under a Stone with No Inscription is an incredible album that should have little to no trouble making its way into people’s top ten lists by the end of the year. Get ready to be amazed.

Categorical Rating Breakdown

Musicianship: 10
Atmosphere: 8
Production: 8
Originality: 8
Overall: 9

Rating: 8.6 out of 10

Review by Emma on January 6, 2010.

If the plague is tasteless Progressive Metalcore from Ontario, then I have caught it.

Today I Caught the Plague’s "Ms. Mary Mallon" is an irksome combo of angst-y screams and mediocre female vocals having tea over riff puree. The songs meld in to one another, which isn’t a bad thing in itself, but it would help to not have that happen being it’s difficult to gage a difference between them all.

I will say that the guys can play their instruments, but the vocals are distractingly louder than everything else going on, of which there is a lot. TICP is trying to do something different here and they almost succeed. The music Almost makes me think ‘Avant garde’ in its total disregard for smooth transitions, bridges or pretty much anything other than the red light green light jumps between an acoustic female vocal combo and heavy frenzied madness. It’s almost interesting, but ultimately falls flat because this dance between the never ceases, ever.

The final track ‘Dead Girls Don’t Smile’ is the most three dimensional track on the album. The male vocals become clean and complement what everyone else is doing. A folkish touch is added with some stomp clap rhythm, and the ending fades with more interesting and vaguely recognizable sounds. The use of the aforementioned created something I could look back on and specifically recall from "Ms. Mary Mallon". If more of what happened in the final track took place elsewhere on "Ms. Mary Mallon" I would deem it OK. But it didn’t. So if you like uh, core…stuff; go buy it, otherwise back away away away….

Musicianship: 9
Atmosphere: 3
Production: 5
Originality: 5
Overall: 5

Rating: 5.4 out of 10