Death... the Traditional Way
The old
school death metal avalanche seems to have no end… And it’s fucking great as the promising bands
infect the scene day-and-night and with no any mercy for thirsty metal freaks. Therefore
I’d like to take a look on another piece of rotten metal called Remains coming
straight from Mexican land. Although it was re-released officially by Suicide
Nihilist on cd last year and decorated by nice and stylish front cover, I
bought it on February only. Of course, better late than never, and, to put it
briefly, I am just raptured with this Ep that consists of five songs and one
Dismember cover (“On Frozen Fields”) with almost 23 minutes of running time.
The style:
pure traditional death metal played with simple means only. And the realization
of the sound is the first thing worth writing about it: for sure it is given
with a modern touch, but fortunately it doesn’t devastate the overall
impression. Simply, it is not artificial and I treat it as an added value. Thanks
to Miguel Angel (producer and engineer) who is also vocalist and guitarist in
the band, each single sound is audible, even bass lines have its own part (just
listen to the opening of the “Wounds” song!) and I can speak courageously that
it perfectly fits to the whole musical killing show. Musically, the first
sentence of this paragraph says it all. This band is one of many young metal
crews bringing the powerful spirit of 80/90’s to the world underground scene,
although in the case of Remains, I can only praise the effort, forgetting utterly
about cloning or fake imitation. With ease this Mexican baby sucks the Swedish
(mainly) breast. And as all we know, such milk is the best for the youngster
definitely. I wrote ‘Swedish’, yes, Sweden… with such names as Dismember, Edge
of Sanity, Unleashed (especially in “Psychopathic Release”), maybe some admixtures
of old Asphyx and old Benediction with old American flavor (Autopsy,
Incantation). Everything is well known, there are no any undesired surprises, and
this is the death metal way I love most...
Listening
to this piece and thinking about possible influences as an obvious thing in
such a genre, Dismember comes to my mind first, not only because of the “On
Frozen Fields” cover, but also by reason of the song structures. Just take a
listen to the Dismember’s “Hate Campaign” album and songs like “Bleeding Over”,
“Thanatology” or “Suicidal Revelation”. They are some kind of determinants for
Remains. Fast, brutal and not with these well-known Swedish melodious leads. Of
course, I don’t state the Mexicans cannot create, let’s say, catchy tunes,
because it is not, as the memorable parts are rather hidden amongst the wall-crushing
guitar layers and the perfect vo-kills (really good sort of growling!) done by
Miguel Angel, reminding me a bit of Dan Swanö’s pharynx. And
I think their main goal is to strike the listener with brutality and crude,
obscure atmosphere, though the sounds are balanced and given in a
well-thought-out way (being in perfect annihilation? Yep, absolutely!). Of
course it’s great they are able to ladle the inspirations from big names and
they use it profitably for their own devastating music, giving it a
recognizable quality stamp. With classic instrumentarium, without any needless
and vain intros, but with the tempo changes and proper level of death metal
aggressiveness, Remains offer the music with no boredom or yawn moments… so, do
I need more?
Unfortunately,
amidst many whiles of pleasures during listening to this material, I have one
reason for complaint. It’s hard to believe, but this is the closing track “On
Frozen Fields”, taken from the third Dismember album. This song belongs to the
more melodic part of it and as I have written already, such ‘obvious’ catchy
tunes don’t fit to the “…of Death” entirety. All right, just take a look on the
content of this under discussion “Massive Killing Capacity” album: there are
songs like “Crime Divine” or the title one which are definitely better to be
covered in this instance. It would make Ep coherent and more impressive.
To cut it
short, this band gives me really great moments with their second material. First
five authorial songs are incredibly equal and it’s very hard to choose the
leader. The overall impression is somehow strengthened because I can feel like
these crushing undertones were written and executed especially for me. I mean,
I’ve been with such music for almost 25 years, I’m still worshipping it, and I
will be doing that by all means. This band is a proof that traditional death
metal way is infinite, even if there are no any signs of originality. But who
cares, by the way? If you’re old-school maniac, you understand it. And I wait
for the next release, as it is planned to be out this year. I’m as silent as
the stars, because it seems Remains won’t disappoint me.
88/100
-Tlacaxipehualiztli
(written on March, 2014)
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