All Flesh Fades

This CD features 2 Philippine Death Metal bands, 4 tracks each. Pathogen plays very morbid sounding mix of US stuff a la Incantation meets early 90’s Swedeath like Grave. The result is heavy and dark sounding DM with balls of steel! Not boring “brutal” technical shit here, just crushing riffs that vary between mid-paced to fast and deep growling a la Kam Lee! The sound is great, except for in the 4th track, which sounds rawer, thus adding a more barbaric feel and makes Pathogen sound even more evil, even though it’s slow. Well done! 9/10.

According to the net – the 2nd band “Brimstone in Fire” was formed back in 1989, but that’s the first release that features their music, which is really weird. Anyway, they play very raw sounding Death Metal, technical riffs oriented, mid paced stuff with a vocalist that a bit reminds of Don of the Dead from Nunslaughter. Even though I like the raw sound and the chainsaw-like bass presence, this stuff didn’t catch me and I would say that it sounds boring, especially if compared to the first band on this split. 20 years is enough to make 4 Death Metal songs that don’t suck. Anyway, Pathogen is still a good reason to buy this CD. 6 / 10 for BIF, 7.5 for the CD.