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Damnation: Resurrection Of Azarath
Damnation - Resurrection Of Azarath - [Conquer Records]

2004-04-27

A brimful of nerves.

I have no other words to describe this concentrated piece of rage that is damnation.
The polish band deals is black tinged death metal, with an unrestrained tendency towards blast beats, only once every often taking a sudden breather for a keyboard driven atmosphere bit, or a virtual monk choir that is unaware of its coming massacre by a barrage of guitars and drums. At the head of this column marches Les, of famed polish band Hell Born, who roars here like there's no tomorrow, for my ears – there is none.

The album is actually a combination of past bits, all put together in an not exactly homogenous album, the feel changes every couple of songs, as well as the sound, even though the general motif of old school driven death metal is kept all along.

The weird thing is that in between the barrage of speed and noise there are several good riffs, track3, rebel souls, is characterized by a good somber feeling, creating an interesting contrast between the band's murderous blast beats and the slower, keyboard oriented bits, one clear thing is the band's liking of such old school classic as Celtic Frost and Bathory, evident in the slower parts.

The drumming is impressive, in the blast beats, in the cymbal work, it all adds to give the band an immediate edge which sets them apart from many other, less atalented bands, the sound, also quite proficient, also extenuates the band's mastery of their instruments.

This is no east listening CD, no long melodic parts, the band just hits the listener on his head, again and again, such songs as track 4, Azarath, give little pause during the rare, slower bits, preferring to tram the blast beat motif down the throat again and again.

A lot of somber atmosphere here, in such tracks as From The Abyssland, but they are quickly drowned in the mighty flood of metal.

To sum things up, anyone looking for fast and furious metal, this is quite the dish for you, anyone more into melodic music and complexity – nothing to see here, please move along.

Alon Miasnikov



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