Welcome to Patch Notes V.666, your weekly system update straight from the depths of Hell
Every Friday, we wade through the carnage so you don’t have to—separating the world-ending riffs from the glitch-ridden duds, the blast-beat assaults from the uninspired filler. Whether it’s blackened, brutal, or bugged beyond repair, we’ll tell you what’s forged in fire and what deserves a permanent rage-quit.
So equip your best armor, chug a stamina potion, and step into the pit. This week, we have a brutal collection of death metal albums from Lik, Exterminatus, Dormant Ordeal, and Unidad Trauma. Let’s see which albums survive the onslaught this week!
LIK – NECRO (METAL BLADE)
The modern-day purveyors of classic Swedish death metal are at it again with the aptly-titled, Necro. Lik is at the top of the OSSDM game for a few reasons. Firstly, these guys are actually Swedish. This seems like it should be the only prerequisite that matters. Secondly, they’ve penned the ultimate ode to old-school Entombed with the track ‘Deceased’, replete with an obligatory scream buried in the mix and eerie keyboard tinkling (think Left Hand Path‘s title track). This album, unlike the previous three (from what I can recall), is a bit heavier on the early melo-death harmonies à la At The Gates. The one complaint here is that it sounds slightly over-produced, missing the raw ‘chainsaw buzz’ of those early Swedish albums. [8]
EXTERMINATUS – ECHOES FROM A DISTANT STAR (INDEPENDENT)
In the Warhammer 40k franchise, Exterminatus is an Imperial order to destroy all life on a planet. I don’t think there is a better descriptor for the Vancouver-based technical death metal band of the same name. This being their third full-length, it has become apparent that they are now playing in the same league as the big boys of the ‘Stay Tech’ scene. This album is every bit as masterful as anything their hometown boys, Archspire, have produced. If you are looking to be challenged by just how far the boundaries of the tech death genre can be pushed, then I highly recommend Echoes Of A Distant Star. Bonus points for the metal rendition of ‘Rock Me Amadeus’ [7.5]
DORMANT ORDEAL – TOOTH AND NAIL (WILLOWTIP RECORDS)
Prior to Poland’s Decapitated becoming a bounce metal band, they were actually a death metal band. Yeah, I know. Hard to believe. Thankfully, countrymates, Dormant Ordeal certainly recall those days, crafting what is perhaps a modern-sounding spiritual successor to Decapitated‘s stunningly brutal debut album, Winds Of Creation, with their new album, Tooth And Nail. This is some of the most intense, surgical, polyrhythmic-soaked, syncopated, hyper-tight death metal I have heard in a very long time. The precision and mechanical-like groove of songs such as ‘Halo Of Bones’ and ‘Orphans’ is just mind-bogglingly delicious. Think Behemoth on a potent mix of meth and red kryptonite. [9]
UNIDAD TRAUMA – PARADIGMA EGOCÉNTRICO FATALISTA (CONCRETO RECORDS)
There is no brutality in the world quite like Mexican brutality. This is especially true in both the underground trade of medicine and brutal death metal. Luckily, for us, there exists a cuatro of Mexican brutalists that practices both, going by the name of Unidad Trauma. On their debut full-length, entitled Paradigma Egocéntrico Fatalista, the guys give a dissertation in the form of a brutal musical assault to those with an unhealthy curiosity for occult medicine. Songs such as ‘Enfermedad Manifiesta‘ and ‘Cherenkov – Respirando Dolor‘ are soaked in the blood of old-school sounding death metal, while also slicing and dicing their way through the flesh of punk-infused blackened thrash. [7.5]
