Stillborn - Los Asesinos del Sur

STILLBORN - Los Asesinos del Sur (ATAMAN Productions CD 2012)

I believe that the name Stillborn is well known to you, after all, for several years this band has been recognized as one the best underground Polish death metal acts. And if you do not know them, then there's a lot of material to catch up - five albums and one or two EPs. Here's one of them - "Los Asesinos del Sur". If you're surprised by the Spanish title of this album, well it's been some sort of characteristic thing for all albums by Stillborn. I have no idea what's the purpose, really, but it's always something different. Anyway, "Asesinos..." is another portion of blasphemous, vicious death metal. I write death metal because it is the main core of Stillborn's style, but we cannot ignore the fact that black metal and ancient thrash metal also play a great role in the music of the band from Mielec.  

If you hear a riff similar to Sodom or Kreator here and there and then a real smasher alike to Morbid Angel, then your hearing is right. In addition, there are vocals that are not typical death growls, but they are closer to thrash scream and sometimes in a black metal shrieking manner. This is the devilish mixture Stillborn offers and I am fully into it. Their main goal is to cut off as many heads as possible, not taking any enemies and blaspheming as much as possible. There is no denying that most of this material was played in fast tempos, the slowdowns appear here rather sporadically, mainly as a short break and a moment of breathing before the next cannonade of riffs, which bombards my ears very efficiently. "Hymn of Destruction" will be the best example of this, a great song with tremendous power and a dose of energy that even twenty of espressos will not give you. The same applies to other tracks from this album (e.g. "Son of the Holy Motherfucker" - what a tactful title hehe), because the material is very even, there are no fillers or lame songs at all. The atmosphere is also something of great importance, as you can immediately recognize that morbid, evil, possessed aura in the music - something what should never be missed in such music. Also, Stillborn belongs to those bands, which clearly had their own style, and that is another great value of "Los Asesinos...". 

And well, looking back now to all Stillborn albums, "Los Asesinos..." may be my favourite nowadays. I like its harsh, savage and vicious feel. Riffs are great, sick vocals of Killer also... Great stuff, really.  

Standout tracks: "Los Asesinos del Sur", "Hymn of Destruction", “Blood and Dust” 

Verdict: 80/100