Demonical - Darkness Unbound Review
by Matt Hensch
.
"Darkness Unbound" is directly correlated to the substance and trajectory of Demonical's "Death Infernal." Demonical is an inflexible band whose brand of death metal fails to break any ground, but given how undeniably heavy and ruthless they are, it wouldn't be shocking to find "Darkness Unbound" (or any Demonical release for that matter) breaking ground by slamming into it until it is, you know, broken-that's one way to do the trick. Demonical can pride itself on its abilities to construct stellar death metal slabs of slaughter filled with storming riffs and an absolutely monstrous atmosphere, rivaling that of their cohorts, such as Dismember and Vomitory. "Darkness Unbound" is straightforward death metal with the signature Demonical touch, uncorrupted and free of additives-not that you'd need a clairvoyant to piece that together."Darkness Unbound" sounds like "Death Infernal," which sounds like "Hellsworn," which sounds like "Servants of the Unlight," which sounds like the conceptual portrayal of Dismember, Entombed, Vomitory-tell me when to stop. Demonical's music is merely an ideal encapsulation of the Swedish death metal formula that rides entirely on the informal subgenre's traits, which include the 'buzzsaw' guitar tone, a production coated in a colossal bass shield, bloodthirsty riffs and leads, and a minor dash of melody that brings up a subtle image of Amon Amarth. Demonical isn't deep or multilayered, but they don't need to be; they spend the lion's share of "Darkness Unbound" doing one thing: bulldozing through the world with cutthroat riffs, abysmal bass work, and a feral percussion performance. Songs like "Deathcrown" and "An Endless Celebration" are among Demonical's most malignant and vile exhibitions of atrocity. The one bothersome feature of "Darkness Unbound" (this was also the one issue with "Death Infernal") is that the band's songwriting talents are wholly limited to a standardization of the Swedish death metal texture; they are superb for the most part, but the group's attempts to shift direction almost always fall flat. The groove-infused "King of All," despite being heavy as hell, is boring and repetitious, and "The Great Praise" really doesn't need to rack up almost seven minutes of running time. Minor complaints in Demonical's sea of sameness, however, as "Darkness Unbound" is enough death metal destruction to whisk away even the blackest of hearts and make them blasphemous, profane warriors in the order of Demonical's eternal army of doom. No need to fix what's not broken.
Demonical - Darkness Unbound Rating:8.0
tell a friend about this review
.
...end |