Doomsday X

I remember that there was a quite big expectation for this new Malevolent Creation album. The first thing to increase this curiosity was the return of Brett Hoffmann behind the microphone. Doomsday X was conceived in order to give the right importance for the return of the singer and now let’s analyze it. Warkult didn’t displayed the perfectly balanced fury of that great The Will to Kill and even this new album has got few fillers, also because it contains almost 50 minutes of death and this is inevitable. Probably, also because I’ve stated that I’m not so “in love” with this band. I’ve always thought that the biggest part of the albums had fillers and quite weak sections.

However, as I said, this new Doomsday X doesn’t come out from this circle. “Cauterized” immediately breaks in with its great production and its more melodic lead lines. The heaviness is well-mixed with a touch of melody as far as the lead lines are concerned. Soon the tempo turns to be an up one as the first vocals enter: Brett is not that powerful anymore in my humble opinion. His style is always raw and quite “suffocated” but the power is less present, or maybe it’s just a production’s fault. Culross is just terrific at the drums. The up tempo parts are perfectly mixed with the chirurgical precision of the blast beats. The riffs take in equal quantity from death and thrash to create a perfect bridge between the two genres.

For the instrument, the production is just blowing. Every single part is perfectly audible and powerful. “Culture of Doubt” continues the fast paces and we can find lots of up tempo sections. The more mid-paced sections, as we go on, are actually very good with massive riffs and an apocalyptic atmosphere, always with a hint of melody. “Deliver my Enemy” shows the first signs of a less impulsive conception of the genre. There’s less desire to destroy everything and the guitars show some groove before the entering of the blast beats section right in the middle. Few riffs on “Archaic” are a bit randomly attached to the structures and they don’t sound that catchy or powerful, especially the tremolo ones on the blast beats sections.

“Buried in a Nameless Grave” is fast and pounding but it doesn’t come out from the “common levels”. The riffs on the doomy sections are better for the atmosphere while “Dawn of Defeat” enters and the guitars duets are not that great. When the progression turns to be stronger and heavier, the difference in quality is more than remarkable. The last part is full of blast beats, announcing “Prelude to Doomsday”, an instrumental track, full of solos and grooving, crunchy riffs. “Upon their Cross” shows the first signs of tiredness and the ideas are not strong anymore. The levels are decent but the slow march of this track doesn’t add anything. “Strength in Numbers” is lame, especially during those long and annoying tremolo riffs.

“Hollowed” is feral and devastating for the blast beats restarts and this time the structures are far more dynamic, adding a sense of power. “Unleash Hell” continues the violent progression after those not completely good episodes of the songs before. Even this time the impulsive vein of the band puts the head out and with the final “Bio-Terror” the circle is closed. The violence of the drums and the catchiness of the choruses are perfect. However, I can only imagine these tracks with Kyle Simons at the vocals. He sings on some parts of this last “Bio-Terror” and the power is from another planet even if the two singers’ styles are far different.

Well, at the end I think this album is a bit too long and this is because we can always find few types of filler. The best tracks can be found at the beginning and the end. The violence is immense on those tracks; while the rest simply doesn’t shine in structures and ideas and you can clearly hear it.