Doomsday X

Malevolent Creation returns with a solid album, as simple as that. They have the riffs, the solos, the drums and most importantly, the brutality. Each song has a basic structure but I don't understand why this should be something negative. The reason is that Malevolent Creation is from the Florida Area, where many classic death metal bands come from, I only expect classic death metal from these guys, something that they have been delivering from long time ago, I don't expect ultra-technical structures, "progressive" solos, 255 BPM blast beats, nonsense.


‘Cauterized’ opens the album with a slow riff giving the impression that something fast is coming, and indeed, heavy, fast-picking riffs attack right after the intro, drum don’t disappoint at any moment. ‘Culture of doubt’ comes immediately after with blast beats and fast picking. The solo in this song is pretty amazing, It’s short, very melodic and played with so much feeling, a solo that sticks to your mind long after. In ‘Deliver my Enemy’ Mick Thompsom provides the second solo. I’m not a Slipknot fan, by any means, but I can appreciate that he has provided a solo that’s fits well with the song, its has lots of effects and it’s simple, the song has a mid-paced tempo so it goes well, nothing special.


Songs from ‘Archaic’ to ‘Strength in Numbers’ fill the album with brutal songs. ‘Buried in a Nameless Grave’ is the typical Malevolent Creation song that mixes slow riffs with ultra-fast riffs along with and incredible drumming. ‘Dawn of Defeat’ does the same too. Brett Hoffman vocals are really in good shape, he delivers some good growls, just like the amazing ‘Envenomed’ album. Brett rests for ‘Prelude to doomsday’, a great interlude, lots of mystery, screaming solos, fast drumming and tempo changes. ‘Upon The Cross’ steps in slowly and stays pretty slow, sometimes adding some fast tempo changes, something typical in Malevolent Creation. ‘Strength in Numbers’ starts very fast then gets slow with a great solo. Not so many death metal bands can create such an obscure atmosphere, with black metal sounding riffs with a clean sound, as Malevolent Creation does.

‘Hollowed’ and ‘Unleash Hell’ is more of the same basically. ‘Bio-Terror’ closes the album in a perfect way, destroying everything that comes across his way. It starts like and earthquake and it’s brutal all the way. Guest’s vocals by Ex-member Kyle Symons are really good, sound harsh and big. In overall, the production is great, guitars sound clear and drums too. The clean bass has been recorded clean and a little bit loud. I think the production sounds similar to the ‘Envenomed’ album, but I like this one better. Drums sound in your face, not ultra-compressed like modern death metal bands sound.

Many have listened this album because it has ‘Doom’ written in the title, right serial killer? This is classic death metal, the only way it should be. Not a masterpiece but a strong album with kick ass songs. It’s good to have them back.