Finally, as the holidays arrive, I have a chance to listen to some new music. Over the course of 2022 (and previous years), the bulk of the reviews have been done by the underlings while I do all the boring behind-the-scenes crap. However, I’ve got 2 weeks off work, I’ve caught up on some of the backlog and I intend to run the year out with some reviews. Importantly, with reviews of unsigned and independent acts. We’ve got a mountain of releases from “big” / established artists as well, but they can wait till next year.
First from the pile are Demoralizer from The Netherlands. Death metal they claim to play and, bloody hell, do they do it well! Formed in 2019, This World Is Suffering is their debut release and what a way to make your mark on the music world.
This World Is Suffering manages to be a little more than just a collection of songs. As the band state in their email, the first three songs are designed to “collide into each other”, and collide they do. “The Stones of my Tomb” takes a while to kick in after some introductory sound effects, but stomps all over you when it does. Nice distorted guitars, a twanging bass line and a mixture of harsh and guttural vocals let you know what Demoralizer are made of. The pounding rhythms are partnered with clean guitar breaks, though not stepping into the melodeath camp.
Its closing flurries take us into the instrumental “Unmarked” which itself leads into “Silence” which certainly doesn’t live up to its name. This is brutal death metal at its face-melting best… with a chilled-out, jazzy section in the middle. Because why not.
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The second half of the album, while not as cohesive as the first, consists of three equally bone-breaking numbers: the unrelenting “Alive To Die”, the Morbid Angel-esque sounds of “Home”, and the blastbeat-enhanced “Children of Armageddon”. This closer includes a couple more forays into the left field, with some proggy / experimental moments.
Hugely noticeable is the production which is tighty and meaty, every track absolutely thrumming through you. Although a new band, each member has been in others before and this shows in the quality demonstrated here. A little “widdly” in places when the music strays from its death metal heart, but a solid collection nonetheless. Definitely a release worth checking out.
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This World Is Suffering is out now
Check out all the bands we review in 2022 on our Spotify and YouTube playlists!
Demoralizer: facebook | spotify | soundcloud | bandcamp | youtube