More Death Metal Briefs

Death!

I know you want to read about three more death metal albums that are going under the radar.

Vassafor / Sinistrous Diabolus: Split (2014)
3.5 out of 5 stars

Let's take that murky Incantation aesthetic and run with it. Take it to the logical extreme. That's a common enough idea behind many bands, but these two groups did a remarkably good job of it. Vassafor is a bit more death metal and Sinistrous Diabolus is a bit more doom (with some black metal thrown in), but both of them sound evil as hell and play long songs that don't feel like they're longer than they have to be. Very good work.




Rippikolu: Musta Seremonia (1993 Demo)
3.5 out of 5 stars

If there's one thing the Finnish do well, it's doomy death metal. Rippikolu are ripping it up on that front. It's old-school and primitive, but they did compromise by throwing in some very simple keyboard parts for atmosphere--a good choice. The production is slightly uneven, with some too-loud roars but I'm OK with that. The first two and last songs are excellent work with catchy riffs, the other three songs a little more average. I didn't realize until just now that this is actually a 20-year-old demo, but so it is. The Finns have been at this for a while.



Slain: Before the Inferno (2013)
2.5 out of 5 stars

Classic Obituary is crazy good, so it's pretty understandable that Poland's Slain would want to play some mid-paced old-school death metal. But rhythmically Before the Inferno is way too homogenous to make it work. There's far too much one-measure-with-vocals, one-measure-without. Closer "Omen" redeems it somewhat with a lurch-and-stumble, but it's too little, too late to make the release any better than average.