Undead Creep - The Ever Burning Torch

 

Undead Creep - The Ever Burning Torch (ICONOCLAST Records - LP 2011)

Swedish death metal worshiping band from Italy is nothing new and those, who delve the underground for longer than just the past year will surely remember Horrid, one of the most underrated hordes ever, which already have released several materials since the formation in 1989 (!!!), of which "Reborn in Sin" album is just a fuckin must to have. But here's another band, which you definitely should check out and which doesn't sing about pastas or bunga bunga. Here's Undead Creep, a monstrous beast from Palermo, who have just been formed back in 2009 and after only one demo (“Undead Creep” from 2009) they signed a death pact with Dark Descent Records and released a debut album. “The Ever Burning Torch” comes as a CD – and it might be cool to get this version, as it includes a whole demo as a bonus, but I decided to buy a vinyl copy, which is more limited and well, just sounds better and is a great addition to my record collection. It was released by Iconoclast Records as a 500 copies limited gatefold (unfortunately the tracklisting does not include the demo…). It looks really great, even though I may not like the front artwork as much as the covers from some other recently released albums, but I like the fact that the whole layout is just black and white, with cool frames and cool zombie bishops’ drawing inside.

The album starts just like Dismembers’ “Indecent and Obscene” LP and I don’t only mean the production values (which I actually think is just awesome, with classic Swedish sounding guitars, so the effect is amazing), but also the riffing and melodies and basically everything… Maybe except the vocals, which are more brutal and slightly deeper, everything here will remind you Dismember, but also Carnage, Entombed, Necrophobic, Desultory… He, you know by now how that list goes I guess. But forgetting about the lack of originality, I think that those Italians have managed to compose some absolutely killer tracks. Really, the material on “The Ever Burning Torch” is excellent and surely matches the quality of the best Swedish bands. Their decrepit style of death metal makes my heart beat much faster and I’m not even going to mention what I felt when I needed to bang my head, as the album is so furious and dynamic that for the moment I thought that my skull will fell off the neck. Hmm, headless death metal maniac - that would be something unusual. But yeah, the strongest point of Undead Creep album is not only an excellent, Sunlight-esque sound, but most of all it’s the riffing, which is superb. There are no shitty riffs here, they all seem to be carefully chosen and putted together, so the songs are just killer.

Since the style is 90% Swedish influenced, there’s quite a big dose of harmonious, melodic riffs in classic Dismember vein, but there are also many faster and more aggressive parts as well, some even with the furious blasting like in ruthless “Surrounded by Tombs” for instance or in “Frozen Asphyxiation”, which is quite diverse song and starts with a mid paced part, then gets really fast and the middle fragment is nice and doomy with great melodic guitar lead (those few solos on the album are superb I must say, really well played). It’s a total carnage, something I just worship! Apart from the whole Swedish death metal worship, Undead Creep also puts the necessary Autopsy and Death’s “Leprosy” influenced parts here and there, the song “Eternal Rest” is its finest example, as it’s relatively slow, almost doomy, with simple old school riffing, but with some more dynamics and melodies here and there.

It’s difficult really to point out the best tracks from “The Ever Burning Torch”. I like “Immolated For Reincarnation” most I guess, it’s awesome song, which begins quite rapidly to turn into more melodic, yet aggressive tune. Then “Eradicated Memories” really has similar vibe and riffing to “Death Evocation” of You-Know-Who, but the track is killer anyway. I love “Eternal Rest”, as I mentioned already, and also “Survive the Aftermath” and “Frozen Asphyxiation”. So yeah, the tracklist is very impressive and this only proves the high quality of this material. No weak playing here, just strong and devastating death metal. You should definitely check it out, if you call yourself a Swedish death metal freak, but also if you’re into the Autopsy and early Death maniac! I want more!

Standout tracks: “Immolated For Reincarnation”, “Eternal Rest”, “Frozen Asphyxiation”, “Eradicated Memories”

Final rate: 85 / 100