Soul Embraced is a metal/death metal band that has been around for more than a decade. They have one EP and four full albums to show for it. Despite the lack of popularity, their message is strong and music is great.

Their 2008 album Dead Alive starts off with "To End It All" which begins with a creepy acoustic guitar repeating itself over and over. The song is filled with hard screams and a few brutal breakdowns. The song lyrically a downer with the lines, "Will this be the day, I end it all." The third song marks one of the biggest highlights of the album, "Curtain of Deceit." Lyrically, this song is powerful. "It seems the distance between us grows farther everyday, by my own actions, without realizing," describes so many relationships with God and how we fall away from Him.

The next song to stand out from the rest is "Crawl." It is the "pump up" song of the album, offering lyrics like, "No more weeping, dry your eyes, you've come so far, time to test your faith." "Bloodstained Nevada" and "Kill This" are other memorable songs on the album as well. The only flaw on Dead Alive is the closing song. It sounds more like a filler than a good finale.

Soul Embraced knew what they were doing when they wrote Dead Alive. Luckily they didn't fall into the trap that many metal bands do- every song sounding the same with no originality in the mix. This will be a great addition to any metal-head's collection.

JFH Reader Review: written by Zachary Zinn, 8/31/09, for Jesusfreakhideout.com