Deathtober part 3

 

Nile - Vile Nilotic Rites 2019

You gotta hand it to Karl Sanders. The man had a vision growing up in South Carolina - to develop a death metal band based solely on Egyptian culture despite being a white dude who grew up thousands of miles away from the place. This has been going on for 25 years and 9 albums at this point.

Karl is the only remaining original member, but the format does not appear to have changed much - breakneck speed and spastic bursts of Egyptian scales ripped all across the fretboard. You have your ambient passages that sound like excerpts from Temple of Doom, but most of it is full-tilt brutal tech death deliver at one-thousand notes per minute.

You’d think a Suffocation fan would love it, but I’ve just never been a Nile guy. This one is fine. I like the production better than some of the others I’ve heard, but it just sounds the same after 10 minutes or so, and the sucker goes on for an hour. I think it’s the distinct scale - it just makes every riff sound like the one before it. That drummer puts in a workout... damn. Easier to admire than actually enjoy.

Call it: More Egyptian-themed brutal tech death from the one band who insists on doing it.

 

Cthe’ilist - Le dernier crepuscule 2016

Funny, as I was trying to spell all this crap correctly, I immediately thought of the famous Finns, Demilich , and I’ll be damned if that’s not exactly who these Canadians sound like. The distinctive burp vocals aren’t there, but the very unique down-tuned single-string broken rhythm riffing is immediately recognizable. But I gotta say, the “bottom of the stomach” vocals of Demilich are what keeps me from really liking them, so I instantly liked these guys better.

Far from a rip-off though, there are quite a few differences It’s somewhat more linear than Demilich - sticking with riffs longer, slamming some power chords occasionally, allowing for some deviation from that broken, halting drumming that made the Finns so unique. It’s also more melodic - “Voidspawn” has a full-on traditional heavy metal lead break. And the closing track has full orchestration, cleanly sung vocals, and gets downright thrash metal at the end. And I’m not sure, but I think they’re singing about The Legend of Zelda so... that’s weird.

Call it: Not quite a Demilich clone, but similar enough that fans of the notorious Finns should latch onto to this immediately.

Obscura - Diluvium 2018

The German band Obscura released what is still my favorite post 2000 death metal album - Cosmogenesis. They’re very much lovers of the progressive-era Death style which I love dearly. I hadn’t spent any time with this new one, so I felt it was time I did. So if Chuck Schuldiner fused with Suicmez of Necrophagist and you threw in some Cynic-style vocoder vocals now and again, you’d pretty much have what Obscura is all about. Those are all my favorite things, so it definitely works for me. Named after a Gorguts album, I really don’t detect any of that band in their sound. Maybe a little Atheist here and there, but heavy on the Death influence more than anything else.

At any rate it’s progressive tech-Death, very melodic, and probably won’t be everyone’s cup of tea, but I love it. I will say their 2018 album sounds pretty damn close to their 2009 album - meaning there hasn’t necessarily been a whole lot of progression - but it is still very enjoyable stuff. Maybe they’ve become a bit more distinctively their own thing at this point, and not just their influences. Super virtuosic leads over fretless bass acrobatics with some some guttural vocals and jazz-inspired drumming - what’s not to love?

Call it: Super talented Germans with a love for the late great Chuck Schuldiner with high levels of technicality and lots of guitar shredding.

Lik - Carnage 2018

Uh... that’s clearly a Dismember riff at the start of track 1. That, and the album title is essentially Dismember’s former band name... These Swedes are not even trying to hide it (except they leave Dismember and Entombed off of their “key influences” on their band page... ha!) Well, it’s all here: the Sunlight studio production, the Boss Heavy Metal distortion pedal guitars, the 2 guitar harmonies. Old school Swedish death metal circa 1992.

So I struggle here... had this been made in 92, would I be singing it’s praises? Probably. It’s pretty damn good. Good grooves, punky mosh parts, that 4th harmony on the guitars - it’s very well made. It just might be a little too derivative to truly stand out anymore. We all loved Like an Everflowing Stream and Left Hand Path when we first heard them. Do we need more of it? I’m still not sure. I’m going 50/50 on this one.

Call it: Another modern band playing Swedish DM that is indistinguishable from the golden era stuff in the 90’s.

 

Torture Rack - Malefic Humiliation 2018

Who knew Portland, Oregon had such a thriving DM scene? That blows me away. Torture Rack play good ol’ roots DM reminiscent of CC’s Eaten Back to Life or even Death’s Scream Bloody Gore. It’s got that nice raw production where it sounds like the drum kit had maybe two mics on it. The vocals are deep as hell - man these kids nowadays sure have mastered that. It used to be, a guy who could get that low was a very rare thing in the genre, now they’re all over the place.

“Captured by the slayer, Such a tender species
Butchered in his lair, You'll be found in feces”

Now that’s something we can all get behind right? These guys are old school fun. They’ve got some slow as hell parts and then they chug away, this really sounds like first wave stuff and they do it very well. I feel 15 again.

Call it - Roots era OSDM that’s well crafted and just plain fun.

Gruesome -Twisted Prayers 2018

Gruesome are a Death tribute band. Yeah, officially... that’s a thing I guess. They deliberately write songs that sound like Death, not covers mind you, morphed songs that sound ALMOST like the actual tunes, but altered just enough to be different. It’s weird if you ask me. Just be a cover band if you’re gonna go that far.

Anyway, so each one of Gruesome’s albums corresponds to a Death equivalent. This one is Spiritual Healing, so the riffs, mix, vocal attack, leads, and even lyrics are meant to ape that album. It’s well done, but I can’t get my head past the idea that it’s unnecessary plagiarism is the guise of tribute. It also feels like wasted creative energy. Make your own shit. I don’t know... I can’t get behind it. Why not just listen to Spiritual Healing? It’s better.

Call it - powerfully unnecessary

 

Undergang - Misantropologi 2017

Ooh, Denmark, How exotic! Groovy stuff, ultra low pitched vocals and down tuned guitars give it that Onward to Golgotha type production, or maybe Autopsy. These guys come out of the gate firing off $100 riffs, pulling out all the stops - it’s catchy stuff and well put together.

There are some nice slow patches, even a little atmosphere here and there. It’s a nice combo of influences resulting in a pretty original sound. With all the money riffs, I think it should make the cut. It’s not groundbreaking mind you, but it’s solid OSDM with good writing and those satisfyingly super sickly low vocals.

Call it - super low traditional OSDM with riffs-aplenty.

 

Vitriol - To Battle from the Throat of Cowardice 2019

Well here we go. I hate this stuff. This is probably why I haven’t listened to the new stuff in the genre lately. This drum mix is a joke - sounds thin as paper - super triggered and full electronic. Might as well use a drum machine. The guitars play a whole lot of notes which seem random and pointless - high low, chaotic, not a hook in sight. Solid blastbeats for most of the songs - buried death growls - just a mess of a mix that sounds like garbage.

I’m sure this takes a ton of skill to pull off, but there is no brutality left in it. It’s sterile, noisy, and does nothing for me. Not a groove, memorable riff, or even a vocal refrain to cling to. Even the slow parts are tedious and annoying. It’s a pass from me.

Call it - the embodiment of everything that’s wrong with modern DM - overproduced, loud, technically complex, nonsense that amounts to nothing: instantly forgettable.

 

Zealot Cult - Spiritual Sickness 2018

Irish death metalers first full length is a throwback of sorts, focusing on the classic-era Florida stuff, particularly Covenant / Domination era Morbid Angel. The writing is solid and the riffs are plenty catchy and rocking in that traditional way. Vocalist Jay Quigely obviously studied at the John Tardy school of growlers, which is fine, but the style is so unique, I don’t know that anyone will ever be able to own it the way John does. It gets the job done, nonetheless and ultimately Spiritual Sickness turns out to be quite a decent debut.

“Left to Rot” has some nice broken rhythms to start and then slides into a great pogo groove that could’ve been on Death’s Leprosy. The closing track is the killer - nice slow grooves and a cool breakdown to close it out. I know there is a flood of these retro bands right now, but I dig it.

Call it - retro classic Florida era OSDM with great writing and Obituary-style vocals.

 

Hath - Of Riots and Ruin 2019

Debut album from these Blackened Death metalers from New Jersey. It sounds similar to mid-era Behemoth, at least that style. And maybe I shouldn’t, but I really found myself enjoying this. Yeah the drums are overly triggered, but they write a mean riff and create some good atmosphere. I don’t even mind the passage where he sings because at least he doesn’t sound like a cartoon character (sorry Travis, last dig, I promise).

“Worlds Within” even goes into a whole Opeth-style mellow rock vibe. Man, these guys do it all huh? In fact, they pull out the nylon strings quite a few times. I’m intrigued to see what comes next from Hath - they’re a very talented young band. Hell, if they keep writing tunes like “Progeny,”I’m onboard - Opeth stopped playing that style years ago - real nice to hear it again.

Call it - really solid blackened death metal with progressive elements and good song writing.

 

Cadaveric Incubator - Sermons of the Devouring Dead 2017

Only a Finnish band could come up with that band name. I’m sure it makes sense in the translation. These guys play goregrind similar to Carcass’ first album. The vocals are real Chris Barnes Tomb of the Mutilated style - so that’s a plus. It’s actually really good stuff - nicely muddy, but you can tell what’s going on. And they’re not afraid to hit a punk groove that just begs for a circle pit.

They’ve apparently been at it for a few years, so that would explain the refinement. There’s some lead work, midtempo Metal grinders, very cool stuff. Nothing revolutionary mind you, I had to check a few times and make sure they weren’t actually playing a Carcass cover. But I’ll give it the thumbs up.

Call it - Goregrind by the numbers. Well produced and well executed.

 

Coffin Rot - a Monument to the Dead 2019

Another band from Portland, Oregon playing Swedish-style OSDM. Seriously... the DM scene took a damn time machine to 1991 a couple years ago. That’s cool... there’s just simply a ton of these bands on this list. These guys are pretty great - Grave is the first band I think of, but there’s shades of other classic acts - some early Bolt Thrower in there too.

They hang that awesome Swedish DM punk groove real well - “Incubation of Madness” and “Necrotized” are both banging tracks, not to mention their eponymous closer. I think these guys make the cut too. Pretty great riff writing and old school production.

Call it - More Swedish OSDM from the Pacific Northwest with classic production, banging riffs, and great songs.