Maze Of Torment
Death Strikes
Necropolis
Death Strikes… indeed, “death” does strike here – three times, in fact: “Death Strikes,” “Sodomizing Death Spell,” and the no-wool-over-the-eyes “This Is Death.” Yes, Maze Of Torment (presumably, monikered after the classic Morbid Angel cut) offer eight swift attacks of unadulterated death metal on Death Strikes, the kind of which could only be cut from the cloth of ‘90/’91, a time when death metal, for the most part, was a fledging form of metal and had yet to become inundated by blastbeats, sub-guttural growls, European idioms, or calculus-defying riff structures – essentially, we’re talking the time when Devastation, Pestilence, Cadaver, and Sadus, among others, were semi-heavyweights… or at least when people remembered their names. So, all you death-heads who cut your teeth on such fare will tear into Death Strikes with an admirable frenzy, as Maze Of Torment similarly tear into their form of death metal: fast n’ thrashy riffs (but not reedy, black-metal tremeloed), fast n’ thrashy tempos (but not triggered polka beats or over-abused double-bass blasts), smart n’ simple (but not simplistic) song structures, and a middle-register retch courtesy of frontman Erik Sahlström (concurrently of Serpent Obscene). Fortunately, nothing on Death Strikes smacks of hokey “retro” posturing, as the quartet seems dead-set on destruction regardless of time or locale (they’re Swedish) restraints. Alas, time for this wistful writer to pop on Consuming Impulse – to the death!
Necropolis, P.O. Box 14815, Fremont, CA 94539-4815; http://www.necropolisrec.com
