Paths of Possession is a more melodic affair than most death metal but is hard to be considered melodic death metal given the nature of their songwriting. Many of the song structures are very reminiscent of the early Bay Area Thrash days and sway away from spastic death metal. “The End of the Hour” is Paths of Possession’s second album to feature George Fisher (Cannibal Corpse) on vocals, and third overall album for the band.

Although the band finds a way to layer the songs with melodies and good riffs in between death metal, they fail to impress or sound fresh. Melodic death metal has been done a lot better by many bands, and even though Paths of Possession sometimes does have great melodies, they just don’t fully take off and the end result is a batch of songs that don’t seem to have a clear direction. “Memory Burn” is a great start to the album, with smooth melodies and a pounding riff to back it up. But after this song, the band follows a hit and miss road. “In Offering of Spite”, “Poisoned Promised Land”, “Ash Is Falling Rain” and the title track are songs that feature great guitar solos and have a very cohesive structure and end up being excellent death/thrash songs with good melodies and Corpsegrinders’s vocal performances that are great as usual. But this is as far as the good things go, as the rest of the album is just full of boring songs that never seem to go beyond some guitar chugging and melodies that have no direction whatsoever.

The band has enough talent in their ranks to write good songs, but their lack of risk taking just doesn’t pay off. Hopefully in the future the band won’t bask in conformity and use the same trademarks that have been used countless times in death metal.