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Antichrist > Sinful Birth > Reviews
Antichrist - Sinful Birth

Sinner's feast - 80%

Felix 1666, July 30th, 2017
Written based on this version: 2017, CD, I Hate Records

After six year without a new full-length, Antichrist finally return. I like the globalisation of the metal scene, because I appreciate to get in contact with metal from Belarus, Ecuador or Costa Rica. Nevertheless, I am happy about this album from Sweden. This country has proved its strength since the debut of Bathory and a lot of Swedish hordes are able to deliver the extra dose of quality. Antichrist's debut was not a milestone, but it was good enough to whet the appetite for more. With the release of "Sinful Birth", the band is back with a bang. The five musicians are full of energy and they know how to channel their strengths successfully. At first glance, a lot of sections of the album border on chaos; the band seems to overturn. Yet at the end of the day, there is no chaos or any kind of loss of control. The Swedes are able to manage the situation of total vehemence.

The album sounds neither old school nor modern. The occasionally appearing high-pitched screams hail Schmier, but the very hectic touch of "Sinful Birth" does not originate from the eighties. The production also does not invite the listener to a journey back in time. Antichrist use the modern options for a powerful, resilient and straight-in your-face sound. Nevertheless, the riffing and the structure of the songs does not break with the traditions of my favourite genre. Okay, an instrumental with a duration of 10 minutes does not show up on the albums of the eighties, at least as far as I know. Moreover, it is a slightly dubious decision to lengthen the album in this way, because the shorter songs shine with their directness, compactness and intensity. Be that as it may, "Chernobyl 1986" has some fine sections and does not affect the overall impression significantly. Yet it also does not belong to the best cuts of the output, because "Sinful Birth" offers real killers, too.

"The Entity", for example, starts with a brilliant riff and the band builds up tension in a very clever way with flickering guitars and excellent variations of the opening theme. After about one minute, the song catapults itself in high speed regions. The lead vocalist seems to be on the run, he sounds like a hunted animal. He is mainly a follower of the one-tone-fits-all thesis, but this does not mean that monotony has a chance to show its boring face. The permanent riot which is caused by the guitars prevents any kind of unpleasant uniformity. "The Black Pharaoh" attacks with effervescent, swirling guitars as well. In combination with the brutal hammering of the drummer, an ugly thrash monster raises his head and it does not matter that a fairly melodic mid-pace part interrupts the inferno for a short time. In addition, short solo excursions of the guitars ignite a blazing wildfire and ensure a very intensive, almost bestial overall picture.

The songs form a very homogeneous album, because one does not find significant differences in terms of style or quality. It takes a little time to understand the structure of the compositions and a few parts have been heard before, for example some guitar cascades at the end of the title track (but even if you put a loaded gun at my head, I cannot say where I have heard it for the first time). Yet my rotting brain cells are sure that the beginning of "Burned Beyond Recognition" reminds them slightly of Indestroy's "U.S.S.A.". Or was it "Dead Girls Don't Say No"? Anyway, these minor details do not have a great impact. Long story short, Antichrist's comeback is highly welcome. With regard to the degree of musical variety, there is still room for optimization, but the band's standard of today is already remarkable.

Sorry, Jesus, this is game, set, and match - 95%

autothrall, July 6th, 2017
Written based on this version: 2017, CD, I Hate Records

Being that the Antichrist debut album was one of my favorite metal recordings of the last decade, I was naturally chomping at the bit for its inevitable followup, slavering over the tracks I could scope out in advance of the actual release, and feeling entirely too satisfied by what I was sampling. Now that Sinful Birth is in my paws, and I've gotten past the whole 'it's probably not going to be as good as the first one' hurdle, I can honestly tell you that I've spun this sophomore a dozen full times in only a handful of weeks, and I'm happy to report that it takes the aesthetics of its predecessor and splays them out into an even more dynamic, threatening form with enormous replay value without sacrificing even a fraction of the intensity and entertainment meted out through Forbidden World.

This is essentially a pure, undiluted window into what an alternate timeline brand of blackened, sickening speed/thrash would have sounded like were it released back in the mid 80s. That's not to say it couldn't have existed in our own continuum, because the influences are worn upon its bloody sleeves like so many dripping spike-bracers. Slayer, Venom, Possessed, Kreator, Bathory, and Kill 'Em All era Metallica all stroll into a bar together to watch a band called Dark Angel performing Darkness Descend, and then some unholy, drunken amalgamation of those bands' rosters go back to a nearby jam space and try to replicate and record what they heard...in the process managing to one-up just about everything I loved about their individual sounds. If I hadn't already been exposed to hard rock and heavy metal since an age shortly after I could potty, a record like Sinful Birth would have made a convert out of me every. damn. time. Vicious, unforgiving, like trying to balance on the edge of a razorblade through almost its entire playtime, and possessed of an absolute disregard for just about anything that is currently cool, polished, or comfortable.

That's not to say it's the heaviest fucking metal you're going to hear anytime soon, but Antichrist, more than any other throwback thrash band, really feel like it belongs to the era it draws upon for its inspiration. These guys aren't trite, or trendy, nor are they sloppy. Buzzing guitars flurry past at a rate of nearly ZERO forgettable riffing progressions, with something even more exciting than the verses always waiting within their eaves, and leads that perfectly match the unhinged, frenetic pacing. A drumming performance that is arguably the MVP here...stacked to the roof with bruising beats, crazy fills, and militant cadences often used to escalate something like "The Entity", which is almost like a John Carpenter composition filtered through electric guitars and savagery. The bass lines might seem like the rear-guard to this formation, and they do their support duty well, but you can constantly hear them pounding and thumping away right up front in the mix and it just generates even more of a hellish, pugilistic atmosphere to a record that only lets up when it wants to surprise you, like in the melodic bridge of "Black Pharaoh" which sounds worthy of top shelf Deceased and would probably do even King Fowley a proud.

The one contentious element I've seen thrown about the intertronz are Steken's vocals, which seem to spoil the experience for some listeners...but not this one. The guy sounds absolutely volatile, oozing sinister and awesome serial killer lyrics all over the guitars, with a timbre that I could really only compare to vintage Don Doty excesses vomited out over Tom Araya's syllabic structures. Raving, barking mad, the antithesis of most thrash and death metal bands that place it safe with overbearing, overproduced gutturals and barks that sound like they're practically automated. No, Anton Sunesson is the real goddamn deal, a front man that I can instantly distinguish from the herd, and even though he doesn't exactly have the widest array of tricks in his repertoire, he doesn't need them, because this violence sounds sincere, and that ultimately lends Sinful Birth its timeless quality of dirtnap speed/thrash godliness, and if you don't agree I will gladly tear your patches off your sleeves and throw you in front of a train. Okay, I wouldn't do that, in reality I'm a pussycat, but listening to Antichrist MAKES ME WANT TO, and that counts for something. A lot.

-autothrall
http://www.fromthedustreturned.com

Chernobyl 1986 all over again - 92%

televiper11, June 9th, 2017
Written based on this version: 2017, CD, I Hate Records

Antichrist's Sinful Birth has been highly anticipated in thrash circles and for good reason: their last album, 2011's Forbidden World was one of the best thrash albums of the decade. Since then a number of incredible thrash releases in a similar vein have come out, all vying with Antichrist to be among the most rabid and memorable thrash releases around. Quality competition from Condor, Vampire, Hellbringer, & Nekromantheon have only stoked my desire for Antichrist to come back and kick ass. And kick ass they have! Sinful Birth, while not quite at the level of Forbidden World, is a righteous, foaming-at-the-mouth slice of vintage brutal thrash metal.

Following a brief, instrumental intro, Antichrist jump right into the fire with "Savage Mutilations," a track so gnarly, fast, and unhinged one feels like one has been strapped into a rollercoaster death drop to hell. What stands out most is the reverb-drenched, echo-y, almost hollow sounding 80's production. Moreso than previously, this Antichrist record really sounds like it could've been laid to tape in the mid-80's. This is a strength and a weakness. While I appreciate the vintage, some of the technicality present in the riffs and solos gets lost in the translation. Would Show No Mercy sound like it did but for the limitations of the era? This makes me question why any band now would want to restrict themselves to those same limitations. Do I get a rush of nostalgic adrenaline off this sound, yes; but I also wouldn't mind a stronger, more nuanced production job either.

Unlike some of their peers, what I most admire about Antichrist is that they are thrash straight-up, no bullshit: no blackening, no crossover, no crust. I don't have a problem with those things but I don't need them and neither do Antichrist. Tracks like "The Entity," "The Black Pharoah," & "Burned Beyond Recognition" differentiate themselves not by subversion of thrash templates, or the layering of outside influence, but by just being as tricked out as thrash can get -- pushing the velocity, honing the riffs, crafting the changes, varying the vocals. This is the lesson that gave the greatest early thrash bands their success. Antichrist has chops, shows them sparingly, just enough to keep you coming back for more.

If this record isn't quite as successful as Forbidden World, well, it is hard to follow-up such a world beater, one the broke down the doors of what the potential for retro thrash could actually be. That said, Sinful Birth is a solid as they come, a snarling rage beast of evil thrash that will set most pizza party scenesters screaming for their lives and sanity. One could quibble here-and-there with some small choices and I wish Steken had stuck to his more manically unhinged vocal delivery, the smoothing out of which (he sticks to a mostly mid-register yell with occasional high screams) is the one big fault found. Not sure that Sinful Birth will unseat either Condor or Vampire's latest as my thrash record of the year but taken together the three form an unholy alliance not seen since the earliest, best days of the genre.