Returned to Life

Canadian old school death metal barbarians Altered Dead are back with their 2nd album.

Eerie sampling chimes in, flowing with a disturbing and otherworldly presence that is simplistic yet extremely effective sounds. Thundering riffs hook into the flesh with a meaty swing of brutal and doomy grooves, minimalistic drums punctate these swaying monoliths as the guttural spew picks up into a ferocious biting avalanche of putridity. Mid-tempo hooks fall into place as the demolishing drums back up a slew of visceral riffing and demented snarling vocals, this is some repugnantly glorious death metal. Spitting venomous and chunky sounds forth with repulsive precision yet a filthily untamed sound, this has all the grotesqueries one could hope for, and more…

The ominous music tends to stay within the slower, crawling and downright festering realms of death metal, though managing to stay fresh with plentiful memorable moments of rotten ferocity. The murky production suits the swampy cascades of morbidity as blastbeats ensue with bestial riffing to intersperse the more doomy atmospherics gorgeously. There is a truly rancid texture to this music emanating from every aspect of the sound, while frenzied sections break open the crypt, the lurching and bellowing slower sections are never quite out of reach which accentuates the overall foreboding nature of the record. Tastefully distasteful, disgusting and revolting, this is the kind of grooving gruesomeness to bust your skull open and slurp the liquified remains left within.

With a surprisingly diverse amount of tempo changes yet consistently fluid riffing and drums, this embalmed monstrosity unravels its mummified shroud to showcase a putrid slab of headbanging ferocity from start to end. Grinding and doom-laden touches to the old school death metal ebb and flow with a natural progression that all works as part of a grander, far more hideous design. There is a primal and barbaric feel to the execution of the music while the playing is actually quite tight, giving it an authentically Neanderthalic approach that is truly savage and unrelenting. This is a genuinely torturous slab of malignant and rotting death metal purulence that will leave you in a fetid state of amazement if you dare hear such a formidably nauseating album.

An obliterating slab of thunderous grotesqueries that may turn your stomach (or brain) as you become enveloped in a fluidic and earthy swathe of festering death metal from the deepest crypts of the underground.

Written for www.nattskog.wordpress.com