Metal Briefs: Death Metal 2012

Death before Dishonor

I don't think there's been any lack of death metal coverage on this site as of late, but I personally haven't written many death metal reviews this year. It's still one of my favorite genres, behind only doom metal (and maybe dark Americana these days) and it's not like I haven't listened to much of it. Here are just a few of the new ones I've heard.

Doomsday: Doomsday
(4 out of 5 stars)

Chicago's Doomsday play some seriously crusty death metal on their self-titled debut EP. It sounds more or less like early Acephalix (before they went Swe-death), so if you have Interminable Night then just play "Christ Hole" to decide whether you'll like this one. In other words, death metal that's been hit in the head with a brick and then sandblasted. Doomsday can groove, but they are at their best when going balls-out fast. I love the drums on "Empty Vessel," too. They close it out with the much more punk-oriented "I Kill Everything I Fuck," which, incidentally--probably not a good pick-up line.



Buy Doomsday


Loch Vostok: V: The Doctrine Decoded
(3 out of 5 stars)

The Doctrine Decoded sounds like a more adventurous version Soilwork's last several albums. I am a huge fan of those, except The Panic Broadcast, and this gets even heavier in a lot of places. But I've got the same problem with this one that I had with TPB: The clean vocals are lacking. The dude has a hell of a growl, and I even heard a killer falsetto (once). But his straight clean voice is dull, lacking in emotion, or even much in the way of melody, extending the notes as he does. And, often, he's out of tune. It's a shame, too, because I really like everything else I'm hearing from Loch Vostok.



Buy V: The Doctrine Decoded

Ævangelist: De Masticatione Mortuorum in Tumulis
(2 out of 5 stars)

De Masticatione Mortuorum in Tumulis is the first full-length from Illinois/Florida trio Ævangelist (the "Æ" ensures they're hard to spell or find on the Internet, which is extra kvlt). The record starts out really slow, with about five minutes of ambient noise, before turning into some messy, atmospheric death metal that's somewhere in between Incantation and Ulcerate. But they throw in lots of distracting noise and choral sounds. These are mixed too loud, and often don't even sound like they were even matched to the music at all. There's an industrial track on here as well, and it doesn't fit either. It seems like the death metal parts are cool, but it's hard to tell.

(I can't find an embeddable sample anywhere. Just use your imagination, I guess?)

Buy De Masticatione Mortuorum