By Monk
When old friends Dave Rotten and Vincent Payá reunited last year (they previously had worked together on other Spanish black and death metal projects, including Yskelgroth, Unwom and Payá’s full-time band Golgotha), they did so with the intention of recreating some good old-fashioned old school DM, combining intensity and brutality with melody and groove. They did not set out to re-invent the wheel…
Well, they certainly succeeded in their ambition and hit their target fair and square in the bullseye with the accuracy of Robin Hood or William Tell. There certainly is no re-invention or innovation here, as the band deliver exactly what they set out to do: and that is the sort of death metal album that takes no prisoners in the headbanging department, as it is as infectious as a dose of beerbug in a nursing home, except in this case there is no vaccination which can save you from its after effects – the primary of which is a fucking painful neck for at least the next three days!
‘Bloody Rivers Of Death’ batters with the intensity of a hundred armies of orcs besieging Minas Tirith, and flows like a Stygian flood. There is no remorse in its assault. But, at the same time, there is plenty of that essential melody lurking below Rotten’s hellish growls and screams and between Payá’s growling bass and rhythm guitar, thanks to the winding lead work of Camilo Pirata, who darts in and out of the intense background sounds with the nimbleness of a ninja on speed.
If you want any more clues as to what to expect, then check out some of the song titles: the two singles to be lifted from the album are ‘Bleeding Devourment’ and ‘Forcefed Human Flesh’, while one of my favourites, both titularly and musically, is ‘Cook On The Stake’. I’ll have mine raw please, mi amigos, with the blood still dripping from the bone.
‘Bloody Rivers Of Death’ definitely, and defiantly, will appeal to all fans of no nonsense, old-school death metal perhaps disenfranchised or disillusioned by the modern trend to over-complicate the genre with too much sonic pollution.
- ‘Bloody Rivers Of Death’ is released tomorrow (Tuesday 5 April). You can get your copy HERE.
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