Paths Of Possession is the “other” band of George Fischer, perhaps better known as George “Corpsegrinder” Fischer from the mighty Cannibal Corpse. Besides his busy daily job as singer of the biggest death metal band in the world, he obviously has some spare time left. Don’t think that Paths Of Possession is a band similar to Cannibal Corpse though.

While Cannibal Corpse is almost a blue print for death metal in general and for Tampa death metal in particular, Paths Of Possession is less traditional in its ways. Ofcourse, the band name, song titles like “Bleed The Meek” and “Bring Me The Head Of Christ” and the album title indicate that we’re dealing with a death metal band here but musically Paths Of Possession includes a far more melodic touch into their sound than normal death metal acts.

“Promises In Blood” sounds as a combination of mid tempo death metal with heavy metal, or even some thrash metal.

This combined with the well-known voice of George, who grunts more articulated and diverse than in CC creates a rather cool result. The production is likewise: a heavy guitar sound for the basic groove but with enough warmth to do the melodic guitar parts justice. With George as a big selling point it’s no wonder he is upfront in the mix but at the same time it would be foolish for a band to hide such a competent singer in the mix.

The band’s website ( www.pathsofpossession.com ) shows no tour dates yet but I’m curious to see if this would work out live. I think this groovy melodic death metal would shine even more in a small venue with many headbanging fanatics going insane. I would be one of them.