Blitz reviews 72: MØRKETIDA, CANNIBAL CORPSE, MAJESTIC DOWNFALL, KALMO, RÉM

72nd part of the short reviews.

MØRKETIDA – Traveler of the Untouched Voids
Year of release: 2020
Label: Werewolf Records
Rating: 7,8 / 10

Mini album from a good Finnish band playing good Black Metal. The Finns work in the style of such occult acts as BEHEXEN, ONSKAPT, MARE, BESATT, OFERMOD (the list is endless), but, unlike them, they behave more restrained. When young bands try to replicate the achievements of experienced Back Metal experts of this kind, there is a feeling that they are trying to jump over their heads, giving out everything at once. And as a result, we get tons of identical albums which are no longer worth listening to. MØRKETIDA strike a balance by using only what really works. They don't have the obligatory Attila-style howls or black mass recordings as an intro, but their Black Metal is no less convincing. Besides, their darkness is rather atypical, and the reasons for this are explained by the final cover of IMMORTAL. MØRKETIDA is not someone's clone, but a good mix of Norwegian, Swedish and Finnish.

CANNIBAL CORPSE – Violence Unimagined
Year of release: 2021
Label: Metal Blade Records
Rating: 7 / 10

It feels weird to me as well to write about CANNIBAL CORPSE in the section of short reviews, but the trouble is: I've listented this album through and through many times but I could not find a place in it to catch hold of. For obvious reasons, having lost Pat O'Brien, the group lost something important. This loss is not obvious, but it is felt latent. It seems to be the usual cannibal guitars, everything seems to be in place, cheerful and malicious, but it seems that there are no songs. Pat's crazy mind-blowing riffs seemed to be a far more important ingredient than one might think. Who took his place? Eric Rutan, the creator of the hollowest and most useless Death Metal band in the world, HATE ETERNAL, who is American to the core, the producer of a million “Hollywood” metal albums, a walking factory of Death Metal riffs (and this is not a compliment). I have never noticed a glimpse of fantasy in Rutan's works, and the new CC album bears the imprint of his personality, even if Eric had only an indirect relation to the composition of the material. he group made a beautiful and mouth-watering product (the design is really powerful, the original cover beats everything except “The Wretched Spawn”), but like any product, it tastes good while you eat it, and after a few hours only the shit remains. It turns out a paradoxical situation: CANNIBAL CORPSE remain respected fathers who have never let us down, but their spark has faded. What will happen next is unknown, although it is not difficult to predict ...

 

MAJESTIC DOWNFALL – Aorta
Year of release: 2021
Label: Personal Records
Rating: 8 / 10

Already the sixth (!) album of the criminally underestimated Mexican group, which still remains criminally underestimated, although it was released on various good labels. This album was released in Mexico, but don't let that mislead you: it was mastered and mixed at Necromorbus and performed in a way that many fathers can't. MAJESTIC DOWNFALL play in my very favorite Doom / Death Metal style, which is heavy enough not to slip into gothic faggotry but melodic enough to tear the soul with melancholic guitar and vocal exercises. In general, this is what the band is doing for four huge tracks - it tears the soul and awakens sublime emotions. Fans of DOOM: VS, SATURNUS, SWALLOW THE SUN and the like should appreciate it.

KALMO – Gehinnom
Year of release: 2021
Label: Sliptrick Records
Rating: 5 / 10

Doom again, but this time I'm not sure I can recommend it. KALMO is a solo project of a chubby gentleman from Finland. The album was released on the dubious Sliptrick Records label (dubious in the sense that it seems to release absolutely everything - from satanic Death Metal to flip-flops; the only thing that unites these products is blatant tastelessness). “Gehinnom” fits into Sliptrick's cohort of releases, although the music is not as monstrous as the artwork. The sound of the album is quite strong, but the creative solutions are peculiar in not the best sense. From the first track, one gets the feeling that “Gehinnom” is an examination work of a savage shaman, beating a tree with a stick and reciting incantations. Tracks change, musical moves vary, but the feeling does not disappear. The compositional structures are more like rock than metal - there is a lot of fuss, but the goal is not visible. Probably, this music will find its own listener, but it will definitely not be me.

RÉM – Berek
Year of release: 2020
Label: Red Truth Productions
Rating: 5,5 / 10

Peculiar project with a name than makes you want to lose your religion. The country of origin is guessed with closed eyes - such a sound with blurred edges is made only in Hungary. Initially, the project pretends to be some kind of third-rate garbage: the songs seemed to be composed in turbo mode, from the first riffs that came across, and they, of course, are worthless. But from the third track, the album slowly begins to unfold. Good melodic fragments appear, borrowings from other genres emerge, and some kind of atmosphere wakes up. Not all the elements work (false guitar arrangements on “Avar” and “Meder” made my teeth hurt) but the attempt is noted. If the author intends to continue, he should learn to play fast - not as carelessly as here, where he plays the same stretched out riffs with a looped beat, but really fast. You won't go far on this haul truck.