The Primigeni Xul (I Condemned My Enemies)

Southern American bands seem to have an admirable aversion to nonsense in their death metal, instead preferring fairly straightforward methods of brutality to achieve desired results. In the case of Dominus Xul, this means Incantation-influenced blasting with occasional doomier sections and, of course, a production job not dissimilar to Onward to Golgotha; imagine an underwater garage.

The band knows how to pace the overall work correctly, and thus, none of the moods – be it blast, mid-tempo or crawl – become overbearing. Special kudos goes to the drummer for perfectly timed fills that tie song parts together, as well as for the patience to not overuse double kicks.

Riffs are almost invariably cut from the same plank as Incantation’s; tremolo for the faster bits, chunky power chords as the speed slows down. No thrash influence is to be found nor Swedeath; similarly absent is the overt technicality of Suffocation and friends. Those in search of innovative genre-blending must look elsewhere, but for those who enjoy their death metal plain and simple, this band comes close to perfection. And keep in mind that this has none of that absurd “retro/oldschool” revival idiocy which is so common in certain European scenes.