Saturday, September 23, 2017

Vassafor : "Malediction"


The dark depths of their brand of death metal is welcome to my ears in it's dismal grind, sixteen minutes of it to open the album is on the excessive side.The sound lurks at the cross roads where doom and "occult" death metal meet. The vocals sound more like a low distorted whisper rather than a hellish growl.In the songs third act it eventually evolves into more death metal. This second song which is a more respectable five minutes is straight up blackened death metal. The production has a rawer hint to it when they are are a higher velocity. It drops into that more "Altars of Madness" grind half way into the song. The wheel is not being redesigned here, it's just being spun well.

They emerge from the depths of the darkness with a more traditional metal gallop on "Elegy of the Accuser". The guitar melody is almost more Mercyful Fate like. Needles to say that makes it one of my favorite songs on this album. It is certainly the first moment of this album that could be described as being melodic. It takes a minute or two to get into the 14 minute " Black Winds Victoryant" so the fat could be trimmed a little on this album. They get into some blast beats that are a but of a blur. The distorted vocals , which sound more blown out from distortion than growled , can't really find where they fit the best on this one. Seven minutes in it hits stiff militant riff that reminds me of Morbid Angel. The bass rumbles up and is just as distorted as the guitar. The album closes with another song breaking the ten minute mark .

It takes a minute and a half until "Illumination of the Sinister" lurches to life.This one has an uglier verse riff.The gets a little muddy, however fans of lo-fi murky death metal might appreciate the claustrophobic crypt like quality. Their sound buries you alive. I'll give this album a 7.5 , as it starts off pretty solid then get murkier the deeper into it's vaults you descend. Fans of more underground death metal should dig this, it's a like too limited in it's dynamic scope and production quality for me to get much air time from it.This album comes out October 13th
 

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