Doomsday X

Few death metal bands, if any, have managed to put out ten consistently good full-length albums. Malevolent Creation are aiming for that goal with their latest record, Doomsday X. Taking a look at the band's history, I can't help but notice that even though they've arguably never put out something ground-breaking, I've always found their albums at least solid. And the second thing, this time not just a personal opinion, is that, as the years have passed, they've progressed towards a thrashier kind of death metal.

2007 brings another small step in that direction, as you can tell from the first few minutes of Doomsday X. And that becomes even more obvious if you compare this record to 1993's Retribution. Gone are the chilling riffs, gone is the overall atmosphere that made Retribution a death metal classic. Now there are lots of solos - some surprisingly melodic ones can be found in the beginning of Cauterized or the ending of Culture of Doubt. Catchy parts are also common, the best examples are the choruses in Deliver My Enemy or Strength in Numbers, but you can find lots of memorable bits and pieces scattered throughout the album. Despite all that, it is still a heavy record, mostly because of the one thing that hasn't changed since the debut of this band - good drumming. Not overly technical, but generally very fast and quite relentless, showing that Dave Culross really is the best suited drummer for Malevolent Creation.

I've mentioned the riffs being of a somewhat different nature than on their first albums - that doesn't necessarily mean they're bad. What we have here is a bunch of quality thrashy death metal riffs, not the most imaginative I've ever heard, but fast and aggressive. And I like the way they sometimes blend with the solos, as can be heard most prominently on Prelude to Doomsday. Not that I have anything against Hoffmann's vocals, which certainly don't come short, but this instrumental track is my favorite. The guitar work just flows along perfectly, seemingly carried along by the drums, making it stand out amongst the straight-forwardness of the rest of the album. Other than that, I can't really pick a favorite or two - it’s obvious that Malevolent Creation have tried to make this a homogeneous record.

Now, in this case, being straight forward works, but only just. About the only thing you can do is headbang to this album - there are no hidden gems, nothing to induce a more thoughtful or meditative mood, nothing unexpected. Not even that sheer evil feeling one got when listening to the already mentioned Retribution. But the one thing that this album does is done quite well, actually.

Originally written for http://www.metalcharge.com/