Polish band Hybris have just recently released their début EP – this is 18 minutes of Thrash-tinged Death Metal.
The first track Amnesia is the longest of the three and starts with a soft atmospheric intro that builds into a nice Thrash riff.
The songs are memorable and well-executed slabs of Thrash/Death, with a strong Old-School feel to the recording and aura of the EP.
I hear a good amount of influence from bands like Death. In fact this is the main comparator I’m reminded of; Death with a technical Thrash makeover. Other influences come into the songs as well though, such as the Egyptian vibe on Egyptian Darkness.
The music is crisp and technical but without sacrificing the song itself. The sound is precise and even the bass can be heard in a meaningful way.
There are lots of solos and leads; the band can certainly play but it’s not showboating or self-aggrandisement, just a sheer love of Metal and the demands of the song.
A most enjoyable EP that introduces Hybris to the world and promises great things for the band.
This is the début album of Spanish Death Metal band Aposento.
Take a look at the album art. If that doesn’t scream DEATH METAL at you at then I don’t know what does. Top work.
Aposento have been around for a very, very long time but this is the first album they’ve actually released. Kind of crossing the sound of bands like Avulsed and Deicide, Aposento offer us in-your-face Death Metal with an understanding of what makes a good song catchy and memorable while simultaneously piling on the brutality.
A strong, solid sound increases the impact the songs have with the riffs and pounding drums working in unison to plough down anything in front of it.
Vocally the singer is deep and follows the Avulsed school of guttural noises.
The songs take elements of Old-School Death Metal and merge them with a more timeless style of Death Metal akin to Cannibal Corpse’s USDM in the sense that it’s not ultra-modern but it’s not completely Old-School either; rather it contains elements of the timeless Classic style. Ultimately this is Death Metal, and no-one would have trouble recognising this for what it is.
Quality Death Metal played by lifers who know their business.
Having recently released their début album Imago, Mordbrand are like a fiery beacon of hope and devastation in the overcrowded Death Metal arena. Time to find out more – Björn Larsson gets a grilling below…
Give us a bit of history to Mordbrand
Me and Johan started out doing death metal again after a hiatus of a couple of years (we used to do the same in a band called Horned that we split up in 2002). I was very inspired by older filthier death metal bands – which sounds like a cliché today in this over flooded OSDM “scene”. Well, that’s the way it played out and we recorded some songs in our rehearsal place (that then was inhabited by THE LAW, the thrash metal band that we were very active with then). After releasing a split with EVOKE (eng) we decided to bring things up a notch. We contacted Per, he liked what he heard and we started writing and recorded what came to be “Necropsychotic”.
Where did the name come from?
I thought of the name “Arson” but I didn’t like it too much. Then my fiancee came up with the idea to use the swedish translation – “Mordbrand” – in a very non-Yoko kind of way. We, the band, thought it sounded good and didn’t care too much about the actual meaning of it. This was still in the early phase of the band but the moniker just stuck with us.
What are your influences?
Lyrically: Total death. Musically: Old death metal, newer esoteric death & black metal and crusty punk.
What are you listening to at the moment that you would like to recommend?
Oh, I listen to a lot of things. I think that Mitochondrion, Autopsy, Vallenfyre, Bombs of Hades, Rite, Gravehill, Triptykon & Behemoth have released really impressive stuff lately.
How did you decide on the style of Death Metal that you wanted to play – what appeals about the Swedish Death Metal sound?
We started out playing Autopsy-esque death metal and never really thought we’d make “swedeath”, and I’m not sure we do. I think it’s the d-beat stuff that make people draw that conclusion. We don’t care, people can label us in any way they want. I use a Boss HM2 pedal which is quite important for the swedish sound, and maybe people can’t get passed that. I don’t know.
I’m pleased that you’re not just regurgitating past glories with your music. You seem to be one of the few bands who are trying to move the style forward and develop it. What are your thoughts on this?
Yes and no. I think we’re moving forward as a band but I don’t feel we have a responsibility against the genre. We do music the way we like it and we happen to digest a lot of melodic and dark music upon the strong death metal foundation. So we don’t have a deliberate task or anything. But it’s obvious that you get that we’re not a tribute band and that’s something more and more people are discovering.
What were your goals with Imago?
To make a record you haven’t heard until you’ve heard the whole thing. A lot of records do ‘sounds’ pretty well. Bands are good at nailing a mood or a sound of some genre or scene that they dig – which is cool. Our focus is to make _songs_ and try not to repeat ourselves. You’re gonna hear a lot of different things going on on “Imago”, but I think and hope that it all stays in the framework that is Mordbrand. Per’s unique vocals bind it all together in my opinion.
Give us a bit of information on the songwriting process.
Often it’s me making the riffs and putting together demos that I send to the other guys. Then they bring me feedback and Johan starts rehearsing the songs. When the demo’s sound solid we start recording and produce it together. Since we record everything ourselves we’re not reliant on someone’s payroll and we get to throw away stuff if we’re not pleased with it, which is great ’cause we don’t have to gamble with quality.
Would you change anything if you had to do the album again?
Of course. Since we do everything ourselves we’re constantly learning. It’s a process in itself to not think about all the flaws in the end result. But everything is flawed, so it’s about ‘letting go’ and realizing when you’re done. Luckily we don’t have to do the album again.
How do you see your songs/direction developing in the future?
Well, the way we develop as artists and songwriters. Mordbrand will always be dark and brutal and that’s the only guarantee we can give.
What’s next for Mordbrand?
A split 7″ with RITE is on the way and should be out during the summer on Chaos Records. We also have a 7″ of our own with two new songs on it. Two other splits are planned too, but we can’t reveal any info on that just yet. All of our releases are gonna contain original unique material, at least that’s the plan, so we won’t regurgitate old stuff and release separately just because it’s convenient. We did that with two songs on “Necropsycotic” ’cause Per’s ideas changed the songs into new entities (and he didn’t sing on the original versions), but that was an exception to the rule.
Frontal are from France and play Techincal/Progressive Modern Death Metal.
Imagine Meshuggah if they had more of a Modern Death Metal influence; add in a bit of Technical Thrash and this is the area that Frontal inhabit.
The songs are technical, angular and also remind of Devolved only without the Industrial influence, (and blast beats). Another description I suppose would be Progressive Deathcore, which sounds like an oxymoron, but only if you assume all Deathcore is stupid, (it isn’t).
The colliding riffs and obscure melodies will no doubt put some people off, but just as many will take to this easily and lap up the heavy, militaristic Technical Thrash that the band offer.
The vocalist has a good pair of lungs and for the most part spends his time using them to shout out lyrics in a throaty roar.
This is music that lacks subtlety but is still nuanced and complex. Although the riffs come thick and fast the band allow them to congeal on occasion to produce a stirring section or emotive passage, before fracturing once more and falling away in different directions all at once.
Definitely a grower. A good album that will probably suffer from premature dismissal by a lot of people, which is a shame as there is a lot to like here. Give them the time to show you what they can do.
Settima Draconis are from Germany and play Melodic Death Metal.
Legio has a good sound that allows the band to show off their works.
This is Melodic Death Metal with a Gothic influence and heavily accompanied by violins and strings. These Classical elements are not overdone though and add the right amount of atmosphere and culture to the heavier guitars and snarling vocals.
For a crude reference point, think Dark Tranquillity combined with the music of Therion and a more free-form method of songwriting, particularly in the drum department. Only a crude reference point, as I say, but it gives the right kind of idea.
While this is bound to be somewhat of an acquired taste, (but what isn’t though, really?), it’s worth checking out if you want Gothic Metal with colour and unusual quirks to the songs. While it can seem a little incoherent at times it shows a band trying to do something a little different and this should be encouraged.
This is the second album by US band Pillory who play Brutal Technical Death Metal.
Fast, intricate and brutal; welcome to the world of Pillory. It’s a colourful world populated by an over-abundance of riffs and ideas, with spikes of melody and angular guitar heroics rushing to save the day.
The vocals are mainly gruff shouts but are varied in places with the singer showing he’s capable of more than just straight bellowing into the microphone.
The songs are busy entities with a lot being crammed into every second. If this was all the band did it would be impressive enough, but what’s really impressive is their ability to show restraint when needed. Sometimes you don’t need a million separate things happening at once; sometimes less is more and Pillory seem to know this as they also have entire sections in their songs where they allow a riff or idea to stabilise and develop for a little while before it once again mutates and goes off in a hundred new directions.
For this reason Evolutionary Miscarriage scores higher than a lot of Technical Death Metal as there’s more to it than just insane time signature changes or deranged guitar wizardry; yes they have giant bucketfuls of both but they also know about pacing and dynamics, which are far more important when it comes to longevity and depth of composition.
If you’re a fan of non-standard Death Metal then this is a creative and exploratory album that should suit you well.
This is the third album from US Death Metallers Day of Doom.
Day of Doom are purveyors of USDM at its most brutal, yet with a few unexpected twists and turns.
A thick, syrupy sound swamps everything and the band burst at the seams with aggression and sinewy chops. The sound is actually quite unusual in a way as the drums sound warm and distinctly analogue, while the guitars sound much more underground and feral.
Vocally the singer sounds quite animalistic and barks savagery in a ritualised, almost chanted way.
This has quite a few interesting ideas tucked away amidst the brutality – a different vocal here; a dark melody there; some effects here; a lighter passage there. Day of Doom also write some unusual riffs that are definitely not your average Death Metal fare. It helps them stand out from the pack and means the album has more to offer than your standard chug and blast Death Metal, (although there is a nice amount of this as well).
Ever wondered what you’d get if you crossed the essence of Suffocation with the inventive aspects of Morbid Angel? Well it may not sound entirely dissimilar to Day of Doom.
Enjoyable, interesting and atypical; Day of Doom are worth taking seriously.
This is the début album from Swedish Death Metallers Mordbrand.
I can’t help but have a soft spot for Swedish Death Metal, especially when played by actual Swedes, (although it doesn’t really seem to make much difference in the long run), and Mordbrand are no exception.
They play the style well with the trademark chainsaw guitars front and centre. They occasionally accentuate with some spooky keyboard effects which adds an interesting layer of atmosphere that’s really good. Add to this a very small Blackened influence to the riffs and you have an interesting and surprisingly refreshing take on a classic genre.
It’s little touches like this that show Mordbrand as not merely content to imitate past glories; they’re interested in the here and now as well as the past and as such this could almost be described as Modern Swedish Death Metal, if that didn’t sound like such an oxymoron. There’s no Deathcore or breakdowns here, don’t misunderstand; the recording is suitably rotten and the riffs more-classic-than-not; it’s just that they’re focussed on more than the past – they seem to be more interested in what Swedish Death Metal is and what it could become than only what it was.
In a world where this style of music, no matter how good, is essentially regurgitating older times, it’s great that bands like Mordbrand and Skinfather are doing what they can to move the sound forwards whilst still keeping that central core of what makes it so damn addictive.
This is the début album from Brutal Death Metal band Infecting the Swarm, who hail from Germany.
This is Death Metal with a sci-fi theme, and a suitable cover to match.
But what of the music? Well this is pure, unbridled, undiluted brutality and sheer wanton carnage. With a production as heavy as it is crushing the band tear through these nine tracks with all the subtlety of an explosion. A big explosion.
Vocally they follow suit with absolute pig-noise vocals that are so extreme they’re bound to divide. A lot of the time I find these kind of vocals awful and I can’t help but feel that the band in question would be better off with a different singer. Why? It’s because most of the time these pig-noise vocals just sound like deep belching and they just suck all of the brutality out of it for me.
Thankfully the vocals on Pathogenesis, although definitely teetering on the line, manage to keep an air of aggression to them and therefore don’t ruin what is, musically, brutal as Hell. It is a very fine line though, and although I can’t help but feel the songs might be improved by a proper savage bellowing I still find myself on the right side, (just), of approval, largely because the music is so ferocious that it carries them nicely.
And besides, sometimes it just works, you know?
So, vocal misgivings aside; this is brutal, (have I mentioned that word yet?), savage, brutal, heavy, brutal, crushing and brutal again.
This hits the spot for me. For the times when you absolutely need the most brutal, destructive music you can get, Infecting the Swarm are there for you.
This is their début album, almost 49 minutes of music – 8 originals and a Bolt Thrower cover.
When it starts it’s immediately impressive with the sheer musicality and flowing riffs; then the brutality kicks in and everything shifts up a gear.
Konkeror merge Death Metal with a Progressive/Thrash influence that allows the songs to have technical flourishes and melodic edges concurrently occupying the same space.
The songs are catchy and have lots of hooks, proving that just because a song might be Brutal or Technical doesn’t mean it has to sacrifice song structures in order to be so.
The recording perfectly balances a band that play both brutally heavy and subtly melodic. Everything sounds great and the sound allows the musicians the freedom to do what they do best.
The most enjoyable thing about this album is just how Metal it is; they are clearly Death Metal but add sprinklings of Progressive, Technical and Thrash Metal into the melting pot. Mix these all up with some great songwriting skills and all that’s left to do is sit back an enjoy as the band shred, rip and dazzle with the songs.
The songs are all of a decent enough length so that you have time to get your teeth into them, (or the other way around…), and there’s abundant opportunities for the band to demonstrate just how good they are.
Once you know about this album it’s important that you get it. If you’re into Death Metal and don’t get this album…well…I’m not sure how that’s possible…
Polish band Hybris have just recently released their début EP – this is 18 minutes of Thrash-tinged Death Metal.
What are your influences?
Would you change anything if you had to do the album again?
Wonderbox Metal 