All reviews below are written and executed by Drako
Ninth Realm – Damnation’s Veil
Definitely, definitely take note of this band, remember their name!
This is my last album of this Death Metal review cycle and I’m finishing it up here with this Blackened Death/Crossover act that’s got lots of elements of thrash in it. This is Ninth Realm with their upcoming sophomore full length offering that’s titled “Damnation’s Veil.” These guys formed in 2018 in Maryland, US and this album has an intro that’s comprised of droning sci-fi-like synths with a piano note that happens now and again in the background and then, dissonant and eerie strummed harmonies come into this and this then goes into distorted catchy harmonies and then after this, they dive head first into awesome tremolo riffs with palm-muted chuggy grooves straight after them and these tremolos are insanely fast and pummeling too. They put in whammy bar accents and dive bombs in this too and there’s lots of groovy power chords with thrashy d-beat elements as well; they then add these fast and catchy riffs, they take a rest and isolate these palm-muted riffs right before an awesome groovy breakdown kicks in; they also add in these big, drawn-out power chord riffs that sounds massive.
This is FFO: Revocation (early), Power Trip and there’s nods to Hellripper too.
There’s lots of these fast, punky and pummeling riffs that just have groove for days that will just get you banging your head and when they slow things down, these riffs appear again that they let ring out and this absolutely incredible offering also has a couple of trilled parts in it; tracks like ‘Rituals In Thar’amath’ are just groove-filled bangers and the guitar solos on this are few and far between, but there’s a small one towards the end of track four that’s mainly atmospheric and most of them are short and brief, but there’s a couple of fast and shreddy ones that are tapped now and again too. There are tremolos in one or two solos as well and I do hear influences from the likes of Venom and Death at times as well, next, they put in a couple of harmonies on here that sound quite haunting. My favourite track on this masterpiece is named “Beyond The Void” as it has awesome harmonies, chuggy and blackened riffs that will make you mosh and headbang and it has lots of chugs in this song and the solos are quite shreddy and techy too; there’s sick, fast blackened riffs and a creepy deep voice too that appears. There are some haunting tremolo harmonies that they add in too on occasion and the last track ‘Twilight’s Blade’ is an epic end to this phenomenal album with melodic blackened riffs and harmonies that groove and they slow this down too before finishing on a high; if you guys love Blackened Death and Crossover Thrash, then absolutely don’t sleep on this outstanding album!
Rating: 9.7/10
Drops in August on the 28th!
Bandcamp // Instagram
Lago – Vigil
Absolutely top notch murky and scorching Death Metal from Lago!
The next album on my list here is from this Arizona, US based Death Metal project that’s called Lago with their third full length offering overall and which is titled “Vigil” and this band formed in 2010 and this offering features ugly tremolo riffs right off the bat and it’s got chugs and diminished icy arpeggio sequences in-between these that are done at a fast pace, they then abandon this and go straight back into tremolos at a very thrashy pace and then, there’s chuggy riffs appearing in this again more often too. There’s some quite eerie harmonies that they put in and there’s really lots and lots of tremolos in this, they kinda pepper in the bass riffs at an occasional point too here; they add in some pinched harmonics along with a breakdown to make this even heavier and there’s definitely lots of groove throughout this absolutely devastating full length. My favourite track is called “Fodder”, and this also has plenty of blackened atmosphere and chord progressions that are a little dissonant too and they add in a few eerie tapping harmonies that sounds kinda abstract.
This is FFO: Incantation, Immolation and add influences from Disma in addition to those.
The guitar solos on this have whammy bar dive bombs, shredding ones and there’s a couple of sweeps added too; they put in an awesome breakdown or two also that they keep going with it until the end of the track. The drumming on this at times is absolutely relentless with double kick madness and blasty action that never stops in the faster, thrashier sections; some of the guitar solos happen more often in a single track and I’m definitely not against that in this absolutely stellar offering. They put in a few pick rakes at a point in it as well and there’s a couple of nasty triplet chugs going on too as well as more pinched harmonics, next, the chuggy palm-muted riffs and grooves absolutely drive this monstrous offering and they’re very unrelenting in the best possible way. This is some absolutely incredible, eerie and stellar murky Death Metal that has blackened atmosphere, grooves galore and plenty of awesome and face-melting solos, if this interests you, then absolutely check out this stellar full length!
Rating: 9.65/10
Bandcamp // Facebook // Instagram
Cadaver Putrefacto – Eterno Sepulcro
Some absolutely crushing Argentinian Cannibal Corpse worship!
On my list next is this OSDM act that’s based in Argentina, this band is named Cadaver Putrefacto with their brand new album that’s titled “Eterno Sepulcro” and this is the band’s third full length overall and they formed in 2000 and were active until 2003, they then reformed in 2015 and this brand new offering by them has an intro track of creepy clean guitars and dissonant one note harmonies that they let ring out and it sounds pretty scary. The bass comes in with some catchy guitar riffs and then these gradually transition into a lead section before the dissonant leads return and this ends with another mini solo. There’s tremolo riffs right off the bat done at a very fast, crushing pace and the solos across this album are comprised of whammy bar dive bombs and tasty shreddy solos too; there’s chuggy riffs that sounds absolutely sick to headbang to and they take a rest between transitions until the harmonies kick back in and you’re able to hear the bass in this full length also. Some of the solos appear more than once in a track and they can be tappy as well and these are absolutely ripping as fvck, also, do I hear a couple of sweeps in there?
They put in some bouncy grooves too and even a few of these bass riffs are catchy in style as well and they isolate it; there’s some drawn out riffs before they dive back into thrashy riffs that will just absolutely pummel your skull in and these riffs absolutely destroy all in their way! There’s a couple of brutal death elements vocally in here and these are done by Leonel and at times, he sounds like Corpsegrinder as well as Jon Gallagher too; some nasty riffs fade into this on track five ‘Frenética Evisceración’.
This is FFO: Cannibal Corpse, Hate Eternal and bits of Infinite Misery also.
This is my favourite track, as it’s got lots of chuggy and absolutely heavy and devastating riffs in it and they absolutely increase the tempo in this song and it just pummels you across the board, just like the rest of this brutal offering. It has devastatingly heavy and crushing breakdowns in this as well, also, they include some tapped slides across the guitar strings, creating this metallic robotic tapping effect in the intro of track six ‘Derramando la Sangre del Padre’ and they add in some chuggy harmonies in addition to the others. There are a few clean dissonant passages in track seven ‘El Tormento de Falaris’ which has some absolutely devastating grooves in it as well and they add in a few trills too for even more heaviness; there’s also more whammy bar accents and creepy synths at a time on the title track. This is some seriously crushing and pulverizing OSDM that fans all across the genre should absolutely spin, get on it!
Rating: 8.9/10
Bandcamp // Facebook // Instagram
Ethereal Rot – Self Titled
Some great Tech Death, but with odd tuning
So, next up that I have for you is this upcoming Technical Death Metal outfit who are about to release their debut full length offering that’s titled “Ethereal Rot” (a self titled release) that drops on the 10th of July and this band hails from Maine, US and these dudes formed in 2019 and this debut has a synth intro with droning bongy sounding ones in them, this then cuts to fretless bass work and guitar passages, these build up to guitar slides and there’s an opening shreddy lead. Then, we get tremolo riffs, really high pitched screams vocally. This is Ethereal Rot and they put in a chuggy and awesome breakdown into this track with a few eerie harmonies behind them; they put in these massive sounding drawn out riffs that are quite doomy in style and there’s some black metal chord progressions now and again. You get a Mongolian throat singing verse at the end of a song and next, they put in quick and fast power chord sections and open string parts and all of a sudden, they’re thrashing.
This is FFO: The Zenith Passage, Origin and bits of ALTERBEAST as well at points.
They add in a fair few bouncy harmonic sections as well as some shreddy ones too, also, they add the bass into the mix, where it can definitely be heard. There’s also a couple of hidden pinched harmonics that are in this album at times as well and there’s plenty of chunky grooves all throughout and across this to bang your head to, there’s varied palm-muted chugs on here and the grooves along with these sound sick and crushing. These grooves are quite fast as hell too and they definitely are some very talented dudes, but that lead guitar tone to me in my opinion at some points sounds kinda a little out of tune; my favourite track in this is named: “Ophidian Womb” as it has plenty of galloping riffs, palm-muted chuggy riffs, many bouncy grooves, also meaty tremolos, a few pick rakes and black metal style icy harmonic chord progressions. There’s plenty of crushing breakdowns in this track too and they sometimes take rests between these and as well, they utilize the occasional guitar slide; I would have liked the breakdown after the first solo to repeat for a couple of seconds too in this track. There are multiple solos going on in a single track and I definitely don’t mind this and these solos are comprised of shredding and sweeping parts too. There are a few droning bass parts as well; if you’re into Technical Death Metal with dissonant and blackened elements, then check this one out!
Rating: 8.3/10
Bandcamp // Facebook // Instagram
Sacrificial Dismemberment – Spectre
Pretty solid Mexican Death Metal
So, I have got a Death Metal album review here for you guys that’s OSDM, this is the Mexican OSDM outfit that’s titled Sacrificial Dismemberment with their debut full length that’s titled “Spectre” and this offering features the likes of an intro track that’s comprised of eerie sci-fi style synths and then after this, it explodes into chunky drawn out riffs with a few tong hits behind them; they then launch into very fast tempos with tremolo riffs and killer blast beats. There’s some pretty awesome grooves thrown in here and these will get you banging your head, as they’re quite heavy and chuggy also; they throw in some tremolo harmonies as well and there’s lots of chugging going on that’s similar to hardcore stuff. They put in several bouncy grooves too and there’s lots of double kicks and blasty action drum wise. There’s killer chugging added in too and some synths sneak into the mix as well in this full length and you have some lead harmonies thrown into some tracks for diversity.
This is FFO: The Bleeding, Monstrosity and bits of Hate Eternal.
They slow this down on occasion to drawn out murky doomy sections while still keeping things catchy in composition and they do speed these riffs up slightly. These harmonies are at times isolated on occasion and the bass now and again is audible in addition; then, the title track features very sinister sounding sci-fi and haunting synth sections and after this, they utilize more thrashy bursts of energy to increase the aggressive nature of this debut. There’s feedback used for atmosphere and my favourite track on this album is named “Deterioration Begins” it has creepy synths, chuggy riffs after this right at the start, creepy voice/wind effects and there’s cold sounding black metal esque sections happening.
Awesome tremolo harmonies and d-beatish sections are added in just before they groove more in it and you get a quite nasty breakdown in moments in this track; there’s the sounds of bells in addition too. They add in a couple power chord movements, not just chugs and tremolos, there’s synchronized guitar movements with the drums at one point as well; there’s some clean harmonies alongside an organ, which sounds sinister and creepy; the solos in here that are few and far between are comprised of tapping and slower paced ones. If you love heavy and filthy OSDM with atmosphere, then definitely spin this debut!
Rating: 8.15/10
YouTube // Facebook // Instagram
Winterot – Bereavement
A pretty sick upcoming Deathcore EP!
So, I have a total of six brand new reviews for you all and here, I have an upcoming debut EP from this brand new band that’s called Winterot and this brand new offering is titled “Bereavement” and this EP features some synths to kick things off, then it jumps right into guitar harmonies for a time before a few catchy riffs come into frame; then, there’s a crushing breakdown on this that’s super chuggy in tone and style. You get a few abrasive and mean sounding tremolos in addition to the other riffs and there’s a couple of meaty pinched harmonics happening as well; they put in diminished harmonies and passages that sounds eerie and also, some seriously heavy riffs kick in that will get you to headbang. The vocals on here range from spoken word sections to cleans, as well as growls and screams, it’s vocally diverse throughout.
This is FFO: Suicide Silence, Whitechapel and bits of Mental Cruelty too.
There are a few soundbites in terms of Indian/Buddha singing and there’s chugged tremolos happening now and again in this; there’s a few more pinch harmonics going on too. Seriously, some of this just absolutely pummels you and my favourite track on this EP is named “Darkest Day” as it has, creepy laughter, deep spoken word vocals and these big, drawn-out riffs going on in it and behind some of the mix on here, you’re able to hear the bass riff alongside the harmonies in this song. This has pretty heavy chugs and a sick breakdown in here as well, you have these creepy sounding harmonies at points too; the drumming is really good too, as there’s lots of double kicks in this. There’s one slight lead in here, solo wise and it’s a little buried over the riffs and the diminished cleans come back in over some cleans with the bass behind them in the background that builds up and after a while, they pick up the pace and add thrashy bursts; the synths kinda sound creepy too. They even isolate the bass at a point in this also, anyways, if you’re into solid Deathcore, then give this a spin.