Backwords

Afterdeath appeared at the dawn of the 90’s with their intricate, complex brand of thrash/death metal which was still clinging more towards the classic canons on their early demos compared to the album reviewed here. Little by little they adapted their arsenal to the new 90’s trends until their approach to the hybrid became quite sterile, dry and futuristic. No complaints whatsoever as they are quite able to pull it off here as “Swallowed” shows so well “swallowing” all vestiges of any retro metal escapades with its choppy dispassionate rhythms, the hypnotic riffage, and the apocalyptic shouty death metal vocals. The several more dynamic dashes on said opener kind of bode some hope for the headbangers, but “Drowning” is a quasi-groovy abraser with sparse melodic embellishments. “Within My Self” is a brooding doomster at first before more volatile technical decisions transform it into a more flexible, but still fairly dispassionate shredder. “Eye for War” is an excellent more intense thrasher the guys adding stylish, both melodic and technical, licks ala Death and fine melodic leads, with the futuristic drama encountered earlier left aside.

“Undertow” creeps forward unperturbed with faster-paced strokes invading the aether, not to mention the quiet lead-driven digressions all these condiments making this cut the most diverse proposition here. “Digital Horizons” desirably speeds up, a short brisk number with an absolutely bewitching lead section thrown mid-way; the hard-hitting riffs become more intricate after this fabulous showdown which is cancelled by the serene balladic instrumental “Without Words” (without words, indeed). “Confidence Betrayed” is a crunchy, jarring piece with abrupt speedy distractions, an interesting symbiosis reminiscent of Obliveon’s “Cybervoid” and Aleister’s “Tribal Tech”. “View (from Behind”) unleashes a vortex of twisted doomy riffs which are quickly transformed into a speedy melee this sequence recalling the style Death epitomized for “Symbolic” the same year only that here the delivery goes off the path with more doom and gloom served towards the end, by all means as a positive deviation. ”Die in Agony” is a minimalistic cut with unobtrusive more conventional riffs bordering on doom and industrial aka Mindrot and Soulstorm, with marginally more dynamic decisions dispersed throughout.

This album was very well conformed with the tastes of the time when thrash, death and other classic metal styles had to receive their “baptism” in the modern tendencies. However, they must have felt quite nostalgic for the 80’s laws as mere months later they regrouped under the Nameless moniker for the release of “The Overcome of the Portuguese Bastards”, a classic thrash resurrection attempt which logically led nowhere, and not because it was inferior, both composition and execution-wise, to the album reviewed here; an untimely decision that put an end to the guys’ spell with the music industry. The compilation of all their early demos, which came out in 2013, was unfortunately not a sign of reforming; those robotic backward messages from some twenty years ago are obviously not meant to have a follow-up…