Anatomia / Undergang - Graven som fængsel

ANATOMIA / UNDERGANG - Graven som fængsel (ME SACON UN OJO - Split 10"MLP)
This piece of (pink!) wax was unleashed by Me Saco un Ojo Records already more than a year ago, so it’s nothing new. But only just now I have some time to write few words about it - and it's one of those releases, which I can say are a must to have, absolutely. It's a split 10" vinyl with Undergang and Anatomia - so, two among the most respected and best death metal acts nowadays. Both bands never disappoint, always sound killer, so this split is an instant winner, I think. There are several versions of it - they differ with the artwork, colour of the vinyl, even with the titles: there's a version titled in Japanese and another one in Danish. So, there's plenty variations for you to pick one. I got the one, where the titles of the songs are "Forrådnelse" and "Graven som fængsel". And I'm absolutely pleased, as it's just a very good effort, both bands really delivered a crushing stuff here. 

Neither Undergang or Anatomia will surprise you with anything new and their songs are exactly what you usually hear from them. Good! I don’t want them to change. There's one characteristic thing, which both bands share: fuckin massive, heavy, truly gloomy, filthy and crushing sound of death metal, with smaller or bigger hints of doom metal. Especially Anatomia loves to deliver an insanely vicious, slow paced sound of death metal. Their riffage is mercilessly crushing and bestial, almost inhuman, so dark, cavernous and torturous it is. In "Forrådnelse" (or “ディケイ”) they never speed up, never sound more vigorous, but from start to finish their music is like the last sound before annihilation. It's like a monstrous, horrid shape slowly crawling from the abyss, swallowing all your joy and life, spreading fear with stench of decay. Riffage is awesome, I also absolutely love the vocals of Tanaka and his brothers in arms. The atmosphere of the music, the sound of it are pure perfection in this style of death / doom. I cannot forget to mention the use of clean guitar tone in the middle part of the song and keyboard or something else (not sure what instrument that is) in the end. Brilliant stuff. 

Undergang sounds even more brutal, violent, more obscure and disgusting. Vocals of David Torturdød are exactly like his name tells: like yells, screams like in pain from a tortured to death. Music is a more diverse thing, there's obviously a sloooooower (aarrgghhhhhh!!!) stuff, but Undergang fastens up a bit here and there, which is why their song is so brutal and destructive, more like a traditional pure old school death metal. "Graven som fængsel" is a real feast, even if it doesn’t bring anything new to the genre, but the passion and quality and atmosphere of this rotten death metal is enough to impress. Those, who like their death metal more technical, polished and maybe even melodic will loath it. But if you’re into the horror, gore, putrid old school death metal, then I am sure you already worship Undergang and I don’t have to recommend this band to you. 

Verdict: 90/100 

Omnizide - NekroRegime

OMNIZIDE - NekroRegime (CARNAL Records - LP 2016)

With the fall of 2016 Omnizide came back with their second full length "NekroRegime". I knew that after their killer debut "Death Metal Holocaust" (followed by the 10" MLP "Nekromantik") I had to put my hands also on this next record. It was only a matter of time before I do. And I'm very glad that I got it, because it's another awesome piece of music from Omnizide. I know that they're still rather lesser known project. People know Craft, some do also Avsky, but Omnizide? I hardly ever see this album recommended in vinyl collections or where else. Which is a mistake, so here's another my presentation of Omnizide (third by now, one more to go!). 

Well, "NekroRegime" is definitely a fine continuation of "Death Metal Holocaust" and generally this album walks similar musical path. But I think it's much more a pure old school black metal effort, with nothing or very, very little of the death metal influence left, to be honest. "NekroRegime" is pretty much your grim, cold and hateful harsh black metal alike to the best Darkthrone works, as well as Urgehal, Pest, Koldbrann and all that sort of traditional, Scandinavian black metal bands. The atmosphere is yet again a main aspect that I am drawn into. I absolutely love when bands are able to bring this very malicious, eerie, cold deathly aura. This is almost bloodfreezing kind of stuff, especially with these killer commanding screams of Nox, who're such a good vocalist. The music is just as diverse as harsh black metal can only be. So, expect enough fast, aggressive parts that will devastate your area completely. But some slower ("Walls of Flesh"), sometimes even slightly melodic pieces are here as well, like in the fantastic "Deathwomb" - and that's a good opportunity to bang your skull with all your force, as these songs sounds surprisingly memorable and catchy.  

And because Omnizide properly mixed and balanced all these varied styles, the music never really gets boring or repetitive. Damn, they even went a bit further than ever before with "The Devil in Me", which is a near ten minutes long track, with a bit different, much slower song, with almost sorrowful and mesmerizing feel, which reminds me some older Carpathian Forest. This whole song is different from the rest of the album a lot and is actually a nice break from the usual, classic Darkthrone'ish riffage, which Omnizide mostly plays (and which always killer to hear, especially when even Darkthrone is not like Darkthrone anymore). And the production, which is raw yet clean and fuckin powerful at the same time strengthens every sound, so that you literally play this record loud, with no worries that it can sound like a primitive garbage. 

Vinyl includes one bonus track titled "Natus Mortuus", which is an instrumental piece, nothing actually what would enormously enrich the record, but I guess it's always nice to get something extra, even if it's just an instrumental like "Natus Mortuus". 

Standout tracks: "Deathwomb", "Himmelstrasse (330ft)", "Walls of Flesh" 

Verdict: 75/100 

Merciless Death - Holocaust

MERCILESS DEATH - Holocaust (THRASHING MADNESS - CD 2009)

Five years after their debut demo "Eternal Condemnation" (1987), Merciless Death came back with demo number two "Holocaust" (1992). This material has got a much better treatment, not only because the production and songwriting are better. But also because this demo was released professionally on tape by Carnage Records!! And years later, in 2009, Thrashing Madness Productions had an idea to provide us a CD version, which is such a killer effort! There's a nice booklet, with some archive band photos, lyrics, a bit of Merciless Death history from that era, as well as a short tribute to Figas, who played guitar on this demo, but died in 2009. It's all there, and I have to say that I like such supplements to old albums or demos reissues. 

The only thing, which I usually don't like in such reissues, is when some additional songs have been added. I prefer if there's just the original recording, nothing more. I'm kind of allergic to extra tracks because mostly they have shit quality, from a rehearsal or live recording. And that's exactly the case here. "Holocaust" has four songs recorded live at Thrash Camp in July 1988. They have great archival value, sure, but the sound is rather bad, which gives rather little pleasure from listening to them and I mostly skip these songs anyway. Which is why I would prefer to have only the original demo on this CD, nothing more. But who cares... let’s not complain too much, there’s no point at all to do so. 

Musically "Holocaust" is a very cool demo, it probably is one of my favourites from those old days of Polish metal scene. To some it may feel like it's nothing exceptional for old school death / thrash of early 90's. Sure, there were many better bands, many better demos or albums at that time. I suppose that in 1992 this demo already sounded pretty archaic, as it's so 80's like! But for me it sounds awesome and has a great charm and quality. For Polish scene it definitely sounded very strong at that time. Plenty of Slayer, Sodom, early Pestilence influences, a lot of crushing, razor sharp thrashing riffs, very nice harsh vocals of Wiechu... It's all here. Songwriting may be quite typical, sometimes it may almost annoy for being so archaic, so primitive almost... but I like these songs anyway. There are some fragments, which I'm not big fan of, like the acoustic intro for "The Last Hour (Nuclear Holocaust)", but it's nothing what would ruin this demo for me. And when compared to "Eternal Condemnation", "Holocaust" feels like a big step forward, for faster, more aggressive and brutal music... which later had its peak on "Sick Sanctities", which was even more death metal influenced. And Merciless Death’s best effort. 

Yeah, Merciless Death definitely is an important part of Polish death / thrash metal history. They weren’t lucky enough to get wider attention, especially abroad, which is a shame. But that’s what happened to many Polish death metal bands at that time. They were good, often better than more known foreign bands... but living in this country kind of gave them slow and unfair start. OK, that’s history now. It's good at least that a lot of these old recordings got a second life and often are now more recognised than they were at the time of their original release. 

Verdict: 70/100 

Entrapment - Lamentations of the Flesh

ENTRAPMENT - Lamentations of the Flesh (SOULSELLER Records - LP 2014)

I wasn't planning on doing another Entrapment review, but yesterday I've had an urge to listen to their second album "Lamentations of the Flesh" and I was like "oh, it's such a great record and again it feels like it's so little appreciated, I did not read a lot about it". So, I have to write few words, even if most of them will be repeated from another Entrapment reviews of mine. But what the hell, this is just a killer band and such a good album, it deserves attention! Although "The Obscurity Within..." may be slightly better, "Lamentations of the Flesh" is also absolutely fuckin awesome and I love this album truly.  

Let me remind you that Entrapment is mainly one guy, Michel Jonker, who's not only a main songwriter here, but he also records most of the instruments in the studio. And does the vocals as well. His music is very strongly influenced by the Swedish death metal (Entombed, Dismember, you know this shit...), but not only, as there's also a bit of Finnish death metal, Autopsy, Death or whatever else is best in the old school death metal. It's nothing new, of course it’s not, but this music kills mercilessly anyway, such a quality OSDM it is. Biggest strength of Entrapment lies in fact that this band was able to deliver such a great quantity of awesome riffs. In each song there’s a “killer” factor, in my opinion. Their style of riffage blends aggression, groove, with some insanely good Swedish-like melodic lines. It (their music) has viciousness, filth, eerie horror atmosphere, songs are memorable, which is why almost each one of them is a standout. There's D-beat, crust, sometimes almost simplistic means, Entrapment didn't have to think of unimaginable song structures, fancy technical parts or whatever shit to impress. They did a completely opposite thing and the result is brilliant. It worked so bloody well, and the production is also top notch and the music is so easily to get into, so if you worship this sort of old school death metal get Entrapment asap. I do recommend it! 

Standout tracks: “Proclamation”, “Unearthly Cries”, “Engraved” 

Verdict: 85/100