Miasmal

I really enjoyed Miasmal’s EP from last year, and I was actually quite dreading to give this album a real listen. I had briefly heard a bit of the album (although a ripped CD-version, downloaded by a friend) and felt rather disappointed actually. But when the moment came and I couldn’t put it off any longer I quickly realized this is the shit. Don’t know if it was the case of a bad rip or what, but I can tell you that the tunes definitely come to life on vinyl, and once again I get proof that it’s still the superior music format.

I think it was the third time around that I gave the album a listen that I felt an epiphany, one that definitely changed my view of thought about Miasmal. It was the opening track, Mesmerized, that did it, and I came to the conclusion that this is what Wolfpack would’ve sounded if they had taken their metallized crust sound to an purer death metal level. The early releases of said band (Bloodstained dreams, A new dawn fades and Hellhound warpig) are to me still some of the best crust to ever have been spawned, and they carried a deeply metal-influenced sound. In many ways it feels like Miasmal is doing somewhat the opposite, and instead of having their crust influenced by death metal they’ve got their death metal influenced by crust, and in many ways they feel like a death metal version of Wolfpack.

But of course it’s not the entire truth, seeing as these here lads have got even more nuances to their sound. The following track, Equinox 432, carries a more pure Stockholm old school sound, drawing early Dismember and of course Nihilist to mind. And fast-forward about 2½ minutes in to hear an utterly powerful moment of percussive work, bombastic and insanely creepy, and for some reason drawing Counterblast to mind (but I think it’s just ‘cause of the same kind of wickedly heavy atmosphere created by percussion). Mists opens up with an acoustic guitar, reminding me a whole lot of Unanimated, pre-reunion. And there are a whole lot of comparisons to be made, if one would really dissect the album. But what’s most important here is Miasmal’s slick way of mixing the typical Swedish old school sound with crustcore and semi-filthy Autopsy styled death into a seamless mesh.

The quality of riffing is throughout the album insanely high, and they show off a knack for fast death solos, slick leads and catchy punky main-riffing. The drum-work is also incredibly impressive. Not for the sake of being overly technical, progressive or whatnot, but for the simply wicked patterns, often raising the songs to an even higher level of mastery. Vocally it’s a dark and powerful voice, not too gruffy, but commanding the lyrics to hammer its way into your mind. It all comes together in a way that never stops to impress me, and I feel I could recommend this to pretty much anyone into death metal, and even a whole lot of crusties not generally fond of the style. The production is supreme in its manner of having the guitar sound so sharp and heavy, the bass so pummeling brutal, the drumming so clean and the vocals so powerful. A few twists and surprises keeps you nailed, and this looks to be one of the best albums of 2011.

My copy is the LP-version (as mentioned earlier I prefer this format), but for those of you looking to catch up on what the band’s previously released the CD-version contains both their demo and the EP as a bonus. I guess you should buy ‘em both. As a conclusion I just wanna say this is fucking awesome, and I wonder if their next release is gonna be self-titled as well.

Originally written for My Last Chapter