The Seth Avalanche

When your record opens with a track called "Fuckslut from Hell", then you've got a lot to live up to, and Sweden's Septekh gives it their damned and damnable best. The style they've embraced to do so is a blend of splatter punk, speed/thrash and death metal with a lot of riffs that just explode right out of the beat, and an abrasively loud vocalist in Nils Meseke who draws from that old time Kreator school of thought but cranks it up to 11, almost as if the Witchery vocalist Toxiene was barking at you through a megaphone. The guy sounds like he's spitting up blood and phlegm with nearly every phrasing, but while I admit I enjoy such abusive enthusiasm, there were points where I thought it hovered perhaps a little too loud in the mix.

I was also expecting a little more of an Egyptology concept here, judging by the band name and the title of the EP, so it threw me off a little that this was slut starved street fucking alcoholic blasphemy, but I wouldn't say that was an unwelcome thing. Six songs here, most of which rock with a fueled determination, whether they're meting out the speed metal/Motörhead details of "Fuckslut from Hell", the leaden mosh grooves of "Blunt Force to the Head" or even the slightly more clinical, Germanic speed/thrash riffing in "Shoot Them All". I will admit that a lot of the slower riffs here are pretty weak, predictable chug patterns that don't add much to the band's carefree and volatile momentum. I found myself far more invested in the faster bits like the song "Not Quite What I Had in Mind" which is pure, accelerated, aggression, but the overall best song was the finale, their own namesake "The Seth Avalanche" which is loud, brutal death/thrash in the vein of countrymen Raise Hell circa Not Dead Yet.

All in all, with the possible exception of the vocals needing to be dialed back just a notch, I'd say that Septekh got themselves a really great production here. The guitar tone feels punchy and full bodied, apt to handle either the crunch of the muted thrashing sequences or the renegade rush of the punk inflected chords. The lyrics, from what I can make of them, seem pretty down to earth, layman hymns of murder and Satanic woman bringing great harm to your private parts. You know, any regular Friday night for the deviant death/thrasher. Or do they start on Thursday night like the frat guys? Either way, I can't say I was in love with The Seth Avalanche. There were a half dozen riffs here which had me whipping my phantom mullet into a frenzy, but ultimately there was little memorable impact. They've got a lot of their pieces in place on the board, but the strategy needs sharpening.

That said, fans who are heavily into the sounds of acts like Deathhammer, Witchery, Raise Hell, Cruel Force, Witchburner, which merge thrash, death (or black) metal influences with a bit of punk mayhem personality, could get a kick out of this. A kick in the face. So check it out and see what you think.

-autothrall
http://www.fromthedustreturned.com

The first thing that drew my attention about Septekh was their unusual cover art; a yellow/orange background with a rough sketch of a wolf of some sort in the front. Not only is it somewhat unorthodox in terms of typical metal cover arts, but it also gave a small peek into the band’s ambitions: to not completely rip off any one band and keep their style of death/thrash somewhat distinct from other acts’. This they achieved, branding a raw yet clean style of death/thrash that occasionally delves into a more blackened proclivity. That’s not to say that these guys are completely original either, because in this day and age that’s near impossible; but their style of death/thrash isn’t a clear rip-off of any particular band or previous style, and there’s even an almost punky feel that occasionally makes itself apparent throughout this 22-minute EP, making it that much more fun and entertaining.

There’s considerable variation in the EP, and I cannot honestly say that there weren’t some surprises here and there. The biggest of these, perhaps, was "Eating The Maneater". It goes along extremely bluesy riffs, and it’s admittedly catchy; hell, without the heavily distorted and corpulent guitars, I’d have a hard time considering this a metal track at all; and I mean that in a good way, because it’s probably been done little before. The rest of the tracks are definitely more ‘metal,’ all of them powerful, raw and provoking headbanging in the listener. And to their credit, a good chunk of the riffs are catchy; whether they’re mid-paced and chuggy (“Blunt Force To The Head”) or punky and fun (“Fuckslut From Hell”--this song is definitely a highlight). There are also some that bear similarities to retro-thrash bands, which can only be regarded as a detriment to their music, but luckily there’s not overly many of these. Regardless of what style they cleave to, however, all of the riffs on this EP are arguably powerful and fun, almost always succeeding in eliciting headbangs from the listener.

The vocals are harsh rasps mixed with low death growls, lending their music a more blackened thrash feel at times. The immense guitar tone and the clean production renders their music akin to modern metal, (unfortunately), and while these guys aren’t very old-school, they do retain an original sound and succeed in emitting a not-yet-prostituted style of death/thrash. I really like, however, the bluesy and punk riffs that these guys put into play occasionally, because they’re actually pretty damn fun, and that’s what make this EP distinct and separate from other bands--some of the songs actually lean more towards death ‘n‘ roll than death/thrash, which I'm not too fond of, but they make up for it. And the further in that I got into the EP, it kept coming back to me that their music is not at all what I had expected, which is a good thing; their unpredictability and their ability to surprise the listener with different styled segments. Sure, there are some mediocre riffs--as to be expected--and some instances where their music becomes a little too modern metal-y for my taste, but this remains a fairly fun EP overall.

-SmithMetal84
http://ravenousreviewswebzine.blogspot.com/