Misantropologi – Undergang

Dark Descent Records – 2017

Another album featuring David Torturdød, this time listed as David Mikkelsen. 2017's been a busy year for the man, and we thank him for it, as the three records he's participated in have been phenomenal !

Undergang is a danish death metal band whose cover art has always been reminiscent of that oldschool, hand-drawn demotape-style art common 20 years ago. David is responsible for most of it, shaping him out to be some kind of twisted artistic genius, only capable of creating the ugliest and most suffocating pieces.While their sound isn't that close to old-school death metal, they do oscillate between an osdm-tinged bouncier style and a more straightforward, brutal-influenced death metal, giving Misantropologi a very fun and almost merry aspect.

Mid-tempo grooves, slower dragging power chords, and drawling tremolo-picked melodies that trail off into the hellscape Undergang's created – Misantropologi, while more fun than a classic death metal album, is still sinister and evil. Some memorable leads help set the tone, such as that of En bedemands bekendelser, with notable Autopsy influence. Full-on chromatic writing and strange arpeggios give Misantropologi an edge over similar caverncore records.

David's vocal performance is impressive – his tone sometimes verges on goregrind-levels of toilet gurgling. The album would be dragged down by any vocals that weren't as sludgy and repugnant as the riffs are, and Torturdød understands this. Variation is out of the question, and while there isn't much to say about purely rythmical vocal lines, David certainly sounds powerful, despite somewhat low mixing.

Speaking of mixing and production, the latter is extraordinarily good for this kind of album – but not overbearingly so. The guitar tone has just enough clarity to feed my ears with delicious riffs, without losing its personality as a muddy vehicle for hatred. As a passing note, it's nice to hear death metal recorded in a mountain cave use clicking bass drums, and actually have it work, albeit not at the same level other modern death metal bands do.

Misantropologi goes from genre to genre – it's a pendulum, but neither apex takes itself seriously, which makes for a goddamn fun album.

Comments

Sulphurous - Dolorous Death Knell

Sulphurous – Dolorous Death Knell December 2018 – Dark Descent Records 90s revival and cavernous death metal started gaining popularity about two years ago, with bands such as Phrenelith and Pissgrave being propelled into quasi-mainstream success thanks to a couple of public figures introducing their audiences to an otherwise relatively underground facet of death metal. Dark Descent Records have certainly capitalized on said revival, signing giants of the genre like Blood Incantation, Spectral Voice, and previously Chthe’ilist (and Mitochondrion to a certain degree). As with any other cavernous death metal record, the production is the first thing you’ll notice – it’s all suffocated, as if the amps were draped in thick curtains. Few effects and no triggers are applied to the drums, giving the whole package a very live/practice room aspect. Despite the apparent muddiness of Dolorous Death Knell, everything’s quite audible – even the lower registers somehow retain ...

Kataplexia – The Rise of the Unknown

Kataplexia – The Rise of the Unknown January 2019 – Rotten Music Kataplexia is Finland's best Indonesian brutal death metal band. You read that right, Indonesian is now a valid qualifier for brutal death metal. For those unaware, I explored and wrote about the Southeast Asian brutal death metal scene two years ago, discovering a gigantic scene with an uncharacteristic public acceptance. One of the members of Jasad began a side-project, Kaluman, which is the definition of high-quality Southeast Asian brutal death metal. A couple seconds into Kataplexia's latest, I expected to see Rottervore or Extreme Souls as their label, as every element pointed towards Indonesian origins – the tone, production, vocals, riffs and even album art all felt like Ferli Suferli (Jasad, Kaluman) was behind the project, yet Helsinki is listed as their base of operations. Admittedly, there's only so much one can actually say about the music without endless comparisons. A modern ...

Phrenelith – Desolate Endscape

Phrenelith Desolate Endscape – 2017 Remember when the Internet went crazy for Pissgrave – Suicide Euphoria (Profound Lore Records) back in 2015 ? It's time for a new riot straight from the abyss, and the demon's name is Phrenelith. Born in 2013 in Copenhagen, Phrenelith started their career out with a split with Spectral Voice (Iron Bonehead, 2016), followed shortly by an EP (Chimaerian Offspring – Extremely Rotten Productions, 2017) and a masterpiece of an album, Desolate Endscape (Dark Descent Records, 2017). Desolate Endscape is the kind of album that reminds me why I like death metal – it's inherently primal , evil and intimidating. This record is a massive slab of death metal, dense and heavy and being thrown at your face. The fact that there's zero flourish or unnecessary technicality brings Phrenelith to the forefront of the cavemanesque caverncore scene that's been simmering for the past decade. The entire album drips with ichor, and while ...

Undergrind Metal

Search This Blog