No Man's Land

Time to review a compilation of demos from a band who worship one of my all-time favourite death metal bands Bolt Thrower! This is Path To War!

Grinding in with pummelling drums that follow samples and churning groovy riffs, there is a clear theme of warfare amidst the unexpectedly filthy sound. Thunderous crisp bass works beautifully with the ripping guitars and primal drum beats, all backing the pungent vocals well, with strength. The band have plenty of tight grooves, catchy melodic leads and a really grisly sound that certainly has the death metal spirit kept intact with touches of grindcore breaking through occasionally. The ferociously picked riffs, unholy upbeat blasts and macabre vocal roars make for an exciting and gripping listen, with variation in producer to give an extra angle from the band, certainly an interesting feature of the compilation.

While the band keep things simple and in the vein of the 90s, not really adding much new, their ability to convey the old school feel vastly overshadows the lack of originality, plus old school death metal sounds best anyways. There are the odd slamming breaks which are the only veritably modern flare, working surprisingly well to add more bite between the catatonic grooving death-march. The band are at their strongest when the drums drop into punchy upbeat pummels with harmonised intricate riffs and raw, raspy vocals in the vein of Karl Willets.

Overall this is a really strong demo for the band, who clearly have a strong vision of how they want to do things and they do it well. Certainly worth keeping an eye on for Bolt Thrower fans anyway! Excellent work.

Written for www.nattskog.wordpress.com