Centinex - Hellbrigade

CENTINEX - Hellbrigade (CANDLELIGHT - CD 2003)

Taking a look at the whole discography of Centinex, I can say that they have some great albums there, but also some very mediocre and boring recordings. I’m great fan of their early releases, not only demos, but also of “Subconscious Lobotomy” and “Malleus Maleficarum” albums, where their music was straight forward, traditional Swedish death metal.  At the same time there’s hardly anything positive I can say about such “Decadence - Prophecies of Cosmic Chaos”, where sometimes Centinex sounds like an awful In Flames. Other time I feel like some of their mid era albums had good songs, but the production killed them. So, there was always something that bothered me. But if I was going to pick one album from their later discography to recommend, then it would be "Hellbrigade", a record which surely stands with its quality above majority of Centinex catalogue and matches even their early stuff.  

Stylistically the band was much different to what you could hear on such "Subconscious Lobotomy", and from the classic Swedish death metal they turned into some sort of melodic death / black metal band, where you could find a shitload of influence from Dissection, Sacramentum and other such bands. Which is a nice change, if it can come together with a solid songwriting and great songs. It didn't work on such "Reborn Through Flames", which is boring and forgettable. But here on "Hellbrigade" it is awesome. 

First off, the production is very good, it's powerful, energetic, the music kicks ass just as it should and that's what I want to hear. It is one of Centinex's better sounding efforts for sure, especially it is good to hear that Kennet Englund started to play drums again, so no more the fuckin drum machine! 

But songs are also superb and within this death / black metal style Centinex came up with a nice and varied effort. You could hear there faster and more savage songs that come in hand with slower and more melodic stuff, but both complete each other perfectly, so the album sounds very dynamic. I mentioned the melody - basically guitar harmonies are present almost constantly, which is why the music can remind you Dissection and that kind of stuff. But there's also a lot of more traditional death metal played here, even a bit of thrash metal in the vein of Merciless, so it all sounds super awesome and diverse. Occasionally Centinex can surprise with addition of clean vocals or keyboards, like in “Nightbreeder” and “One With Eternity”, which can sound a bit more progressive, I am lucky to find out that they don't kill the effect and with them "Hellbrigade" sounds even more interesting. Besides, if along comes a song like “Towards Devastation” - and it is a death metal devastation - then why worry? “The Eyes of the Dead” or “Blood Conqueror” are also noteworthy for me with their death inferno, blasts and very uncompromising attitude. Let me also say that I like Johan Jansson' (Interment, Demonical) vocals more than the Mattias Lamppu's, so it's a nice change here also. 

Finally my CD version contains also a killer addition of "Apocalyptic Armageddon" EP as a bonus and these are another three excellent songs in the same melodic, but aggressive death metal style. It would be nice to catch the original vinyl pressing of this EP, but it’s cool to have them at least as a bonus songs on a CD. Anyway, there’s a lot of good music on “Hellbrigade”, so I can really say that this album belongs to my favourites in the Centinex discography.  

Standout tracks: “One With Eternity”, “The Eyes Of The Dead”, “Bloodconqueror” 

Verdict: 80/100