Beyond the Cursed Tombs

Decrepitath are a death metal combo from Texas who unashamedly wallow in old school death metal filth. I don't mean to make this sound like a bad thing, because these trolls do it quite well. It is hard to make such a well explored art form sound as fresh as the corpses they celebrate, but these dudes remember to stir things up a bit. It seems the formula here is "when in doubt, slow things down". A variety of tempos are employed, creating a dynamic rhythmic base, allowing the thick, Swedish sounding guitars to generate lots of slow, heavy atmosphere in between the mid tempo chugging and the blast beats, which are used sparingly, and dare I say, tastefully.

Since this is an old school death metal retro affair, influences are almost explicitly referenced. Autopsy are brought to mind, with the campy horror and gore obsessed lyrics, and samples before almost every song, if not nearly as blood thirsty.

Suffocation and Incantation also come to mind, especially in the vocal department, which is an echoey, buried gurgle, with Napalm Death-like shrieks punctuating occasionally. And since this is a slowfest, Obituary, comes to mind, as well as the occasional slow parts in a Dismember tune.

Over all, nothing new here, just a comfortable ride for fanatics of the genre, providing many sick grooves to headbang to.

There was a time when someone would hand you an album, tell you that it was a death metal album and you’d have a pretty good idea of what you were going to get. If you remember these days, then nowadays, you’ll likely think to yourself when you are handed that album, “Aright, is this really death metal or is it metalcore and the guy that gave it to me just doesn‘t know any better…. Or is it overly technical death metal with passionless, theory-void fret-board ‘wizardry.’ Then again, it could be brutal death metal, loaded with slam-riffs; something that is almost guaranteed to remove the feeling of death metal from the early 90’s."

Now, if you’ve heard of Decrepitaph in the past, you’ve probably heard the typical “Old school stuff, for fans of Autopsy, Bolt Thrower, Séance, blah blah blah.” Yes, that’s true, but what I think people fail to mention/notice is that this band has created a reasonably distinctive sound within the confines of pure death metal. The guitars on this album are THICK as hell, but more importantly, they don’t sound exactly like someone else’s guitars. There are plenty of modern death metal bands that avoid the afore mentioned technical/slam/core trends, but is anyone really supposed to be excited by a bunch of modern bands trying to out-Autopsy each other? (Need an example? I don’t mean to be disrespectful to Fatalist, but they seem to copy Nihilist right down to their logo.) Blast beats are used sparingly enough, showing up on some, but not all of the faster parts, leaving a limited amount of room for them. Decrepitaph are certainly not the first ones to think of this, but in an age where the blast beat is kind of the go-to/fall back thing to do, it is a pleasing occurrence. In other words, if an album consists of constant blast beats with little to no changes, it can easily sound bland and lose intensity. When it is broken up with different ideas, it makes things more interesting. On this album, it has the less is more effect.
My favorite thing about Beyond… is probably evil sounding riffs that are played in the doomy parts of the songs. This is probably most poignant in the riff that shows up in the middle of “Festering Messiah.” The beginning part of “Desecrated Divinity” (after the intro) is another good example of this, but there are plenty more to pick from. Those riffs flawlessly capture that eerie death metal feel. The transition of fast parts into the creepy/doomy parts are somewhat along the lines of the Asphyx song, “Diabolical Existence” to give you some idea of where they are coming from. There isn’t much in the way of guitar solos here, but honestly, I really don’t think that would add a hell of a lot to the album. I mean, this is a heaping pile of horror-soaked, haunting, torturous death to get lost in. Most of the songs are kicked off with a horror movie clip for an intro. Festering Messiah continues the use of a clip from Black Roses, much like the one found on their Condemned Cathedral full-length. In the case of people searching for the next Rush/Dream Theater of death metal, this album may not be for you. If your death metal needs to contain the unusual time-signatures and more socially relevant lyrics of later Death material, you’re probably looking in the wrong place. This album is all feeling and it‘s the feeling of an evil, gory, hellish, black and white horror flick. All around, this is a solid album and the reason I don’t rate it as 100% is because I’m sure they will top it. Well, that and I wouldn’t quite put it on the same pedestal as “Severed Survival,” “Scream Bloody Gore,” “Cross The Styx,” or some of the other classics, but it’s damn good and beats the hell out of most other modern death metal. Give it a listen.

Decrepitaph is an interesting band, hailing from Texas (though the drummer Elektrokutioner once played in a bunch of local bands like Scum Bitch, Eternal Suffering and Skulleton here in New England), but sounding much more akin to the crude death metal of the earlier European scene. Their horror inspired lyrics and campy old school veneer make them a perfect fit for Razorback. With a numbing, full bodied guitar tone that reminds of old Entombed, but a pacing that often crawls more along the Bolt Thrower path, Beyond the Cursed Tombs is a solid followup to their 2008 debut Condemned Cathedral.

I can't say I love all the songwriting, because it's hardly possessive of any more ambition than to simply deliver on its 'back to the roots' mentality, but they do manage to keep the riffs from becoming a slog-fest of mediocrity, and this is accomplished through simple dynamic shifts. Nothing is extended out beyond where it needs to be. They rip at you with a driving barrage of open picking and then break for a mosh, or a subtle lead, and the leads deserve credit for helping elevate this over just another tribute band. For all their simplicity, they evoke a massive amount of creepy mystique ("Castle of the Doomed" is a fine example of this). Coincidentally, that is one of the better songs on the album, along with the turbulent crusher "It Shrieks from Below", the carnal crunch of "Repugnant Manifestations" and the plodding manifestations of "Desecrated Divinity". The 10+ minute title track closer also deserves a mention, an 'epic' which paces itself with a lengthy, atmospheric haunting intro and a lot of, dare I say 'graceful' melody that breaks up the necromantic surge of its retro riffing.

I'd say that overall, this is a slightly better offering than Condemned Cathedral, for its primal refinements. It doesn't feel as raw as that album, but it makes up for it with slightly better riffs and lyrics, the latter of which have a lot more to them than one might expect out of a band so fun and old school as this one. Decrepitaph could certainly up the ante far more than this, but Beyond the Cursed Tombs is a very well rounded, complete experience which successfully bridges the narrow gap between classic, morbid horror and gut busting, classic death metal, which if you can remember, used to thrive on its frightening tones and implications rather than the technical Olympics it has begun to sate the attention spans of the competitive and short fused younger generations. Not perfect, but if Texas is ever to produce a Left Hand Path or Mental Funeral, my money is on Decrepitaph as the author.

Highlights: It Shrikes from Below, Castle of the Doomed, Beyond the Cursed Tombs

-autothrall
http://www.fromthedustreturned.com