Ectoplasma - Skeletal Lifeforms

ECTOPLASMA - Skeletal Lifeforms (REPULSIVE ECHO - CD 2016)

Recently I served myself quite an exhausting marathon with Ectoplasma, whose six CDs I managed to collect in pretty short period of time. It was a lot of fun to go through all these recordings, as this band really came up with some killer old school death metal offerings. After the debut album "Spitting Coffins", an EP titled "Skeletal Lifeforms" was spawned and because it was the most difficult CD to find, I decided to write few words about it.

It was released in 2016 by Repulsive Echo Records and this CD contains five tracks of that slimy, brutal and quite raw sounding death metal. The first song, which is around one minute long only, didn't make much of impression on me, but further on it just gets better and better. Ectpoplasma rips through with that US death metal filth, which can remind you old classic stuff like Baphomet, Autopsy, Obituary, Grave, but also Cannibal Corpse mainly from their "Eaten Back to Life" LP. It's brutal, nasty and dark, but the riffs are quite memorable, especially that the music is mainly mid or slow paced. The title track is simply excellent, a pure death metal perfection in that old school style of metal of death. "Slain Meat for the Beast" is even better - it starts with just glorious riff, I love the bass work there also (which really brings me "The Dead Shall Inherit" LP to my mind)... And the doomy passage with slightly more melodic riff somewhere in the middle turned out to be a nice addition to the song. "Awakened in the Coffin" is another killer - it grows from doomy opening theme to faster and more brutal and vicious stuff; the result is great. There's also Demigod cover and I like the idea that every release from Ectoplasma has a cover. Demigod is a great choice.

When compared to "Spitting Coffins", I really can notice that Ectoplasma made a solid step forward, as the production on this EP is better, but the songwriting improved even more. It's barely under 20 minutes of music, but as an EP, it is a truly worthy effort. I can be only glad to have a copy.

Verdict: 80/100