Nethertheless, as Casey has done all his life, he kept on struggling in order to keep his band, who at that point was just him and drummer Larkin, to keep going. His savour was Daron Malakian of System of a Down, of all people. Daron signed Amen to eatURmusic/COLUMBIA and the show was back on the road.

Now, Amen’s music has always been fury orientated new wave punk rock mixed with Metal, and after the last few years, you would expect the band to be angrier, but overall, a far better band. This is true to a certain extent, as a Band they have developed wonderfully, but musically it lacks greatly.

Death before Musick is 15 tracks of what you would expect from Amen really, but at the same time, quite a far way different from earlier records. But, it just doesn’t work anymore. On this record the music itself has lost the whole dynamic that made them such an important band only a few years ago. This record proves they could now be classed with any other rage associated punk rock/metal band.

It all starts well enough; the intro track 'Liberation For…' is a fantastic intro which could put a lot of newcomers to bed instantly. Afterwards though, the band shows their far more approachable side, with well constructed but very catchy choruses which all don’t sound too much different from each other. 'Hello (One Chord Lovers)' is innocent enough, a strong track with the promised infectious chorus, and the single California’s Bleeding, following with much of the same, but lacks something from a lot of the songs on the record. This has little change until 'Westwood Fallout', a hard hitting track diving into on of their many branches of influences and directions the bands often go or have been, this possibly being the heaviest and most unfriendly song on the record, including brilliant use of double bass and guitar riffs. It’s not long until the album returns to that sound that you can feel just hanging there. But it is used to good effect, eventually, as 'Please Kill Me' blasts on, the first impressions would be "this is nearly as pop-ish as 'California’s Bleeding'", but turns to be quite different, as this is Casey’s strongest point vocally and it works brilliantly well.

The direction of the album changes completely after that though, as 'EXTERMINATE! And We Got the Bait' marches on, sounding like far more authentic and perfected versions of the current new-wave/Garage rock that The Datsuns, The Hives and The Von Bondies have all attempted but peril at these tracks. But once more, as it looks like there is some hope for the album; it goes back to this horrible mediocre, poppy old school punk feeling, and it is a poor illustration on what Amen are capable of. 'Neutron Liars', and to a certain extent, 'Sorry, Not Sorry' are the guilty parties of this, although 'Sorry, Not Sorry', is still a good track for other reasons.

There’s a glimmer of hope towards the end of the album however. As 'Bring Me The Heads', 'Fuck in LA' and 'The Summer of Guns', all have some brilliantly smart lyrics, such as “We got 12 steps/and a chip and we walk down the street/ Without a life to be shut out” from 'Fuck in LA'. Although its not necessarily a good thing, are the tracks that most remind you of ‘We Have Come For Your Parents’, but still show plenty of the new elements Amen have adapted to, which therefore brings good signs for the future, however, for most listeners, it will be coming far too late as people will have lost interest by now.

This was quite disappointing from a band that have showed so much potential. However, it is this record where they will gain a lot more fans, so overall, not a bad result for them.