Dead Man's Hand is on the tail-end of the popularity often associated with uncomplicated death metal such as The Haunted or something like "Slaughter of the Soul," minus the quality or freshness one might expect from either entity. Their musical fabric represents an assortment of thrash-inspired death metal with palpable touches of melody, and "The Combination" is their average effort at equating these variables into a suitable package. Overall, I am not too fond by what I hear despite Dead Man's Hand giving a semi-respectable take on the angle; a lot of stuff like this is horrendous, yet these dudes give modern metal a little justice, although it isn't very satisfying. "Little justice is still justice," said the wise man, right?"The Combination" begins with "Capaci Bomb," and immediately a red flag flies up: Dead Man's Hand jumps into a pseudo-thrash/death metal riff with bass-snare percussion and your typical Scandinavian shout/screamer; nothing fantastic or original by any means. What will be now known as the Capaci Bug spreads throughout the remaining nine tracks like wildfire until every song has the same formula intact. On some of the longer songs, Dead Man's Hand divulges into breakdowns or Pantera mimicry, which doesn't do anything for the record's instability in positive terms, because any form of neck-throbbing movement will suddenly stop for the banal structures, and furthermore slow down any progress "The Combination" has made thus far. There isn't much to the record's foundation either, because each song sways between two or three equally-standard sections before ceasing the sub-par attack. Call At the Gates and tell them Dead Man's Hand isn't putting their legacy in jeopardy. Yes, I'm certain.
In summary, I'd say "The Combination" isn't a disastrous recording, but it certainly is not a good one. Everything is too generic, too bland, too predictable, and too void of substance. On the other hand, some of their clowning around turns out to be beneficial: good, thrashy riffs appear every now and then, a chorus emits positive catchiness, or the vocals give an assaulting edge to "The Combination," for instance. As for standouts, "Bloodstained Hands" reminds me a bit of Metal Blade-era Impious based on the harsh riffing and overall tempo portrayed by their unrelenting violence, and I say it is the best track "The Combination" has to offer although Dead Man's Hand remains paradoxically simple and instrumentally feeble as well.
Unfortunately, "The Combination" becomes predictably insipid and mediocre after "Bloodstained Hands" ends, so expecting another "Slaughter of the Soul" isn't a recommended aspiration; the useless scheme jumpstarts shortly thereafter, and then the tepid assessments take total control over Dead Man's Hand's universe. Perhaps I am being quite harsh though, because Dead Man's Hand pulls out a surprise or two unlike a lot of these poppy death/thrash bands with a melodic outlook, so you might want to give it a shot if you REALLY love The Haunted or similar bands. This reviewer, however, didn't feel so blessed, and will probably never listen to "The Combination" again.