Zombified Slaughtermachine

I don’t know much about this band except that they play a vicious form of death grind. Underground brutal death metal record labels’ rosters are always full of generic brutal death metal bands that bring nothing new to table but same boring as hell brutal death metal that’s been done a thousand times by a thousand bands before. But every now and then bands like Zombified prove to us there’s still talent in the underground death metal scene; one just needs to sift through seaweed to find the pearls. Zombified is gonna rip, tear and smash your eardrums to a bloody pulp with their relentless brand of hate fueled gory death grind. I can’t find one boring minute in this exercise of brutality and assaulting death grind.

We’re talking mid-paced (often fast paced) carnage that would make the worst plastic surgery disaster look adorable. These dudes are delivering the goods in a very convincing way. Heavy shit that has meaty production. The entire album is packed with constant blasting of drums with guitars leading the attack. Top it off with those psychotic snarls of the vocalist. The vocals are among the best I’ve ever heard because lately I’ve totally grown tired of the bree,bree and pig squeal vocals. This guy brings the memories of the days when death metal vocals used to be haunting, scary and menacing that often made the vocalist sound like he was possessed. The vocalist here sounds more like an angry vomiting bear than an angry teenager barking into a pitch shifter. There are occasional high pitched back up screams too. But the lower guttural roaring is what wins the spotlight. It’s deep, inhuman, and downright beast-like. The guitar locks in with evil, choppy, palm-muted grooves. The bass doubles the guitar most of the time to reinforce the severity of the sickening riffs. The drumming is supportive but not tame. The majority of the tracks are over three minutes, blazing fast with razor-sharp riffs, psychotic snarls, machine gun blasting and an overall chaotic frenzied sound.

Very few slower parts offer rest as most of Zombified Slaughtermachine is played at top speed with dizzying ferocity. The production just destroys as all instruments are heard clearly amid the chaos. It gives a great crusty and dirty feel that allows the instruments space to ferment. Fuck all that triggered, solo-wank boring death metal crap that calls itself sick – that stuff sucks. This stuff is so much more violent and heavy than their palm-mute abusing peers will ever understand.

I’m extremely impressed with Zombified’s Zombified Slaughtermachine and I have high hopes for the future of this group. I look forward to hearing more from them in the future. If you’re a fan of old school death grind, you won’t be disappointed by Zombified Slaughtermachine.

Though the early Swedish death metal style is one I've long treasured, I can't help but wonder when this endless wave of bands celebrating the sound is going to level off. Having a dozen or so of these bands manifest in the past few years was acceptable, and even fun, but it seems with each new crop the style is being bludgeoned into over saturation, butchered and thrown into the drink to swim with the fishes. By all accounts, Zombified are a fun band. They've got a cool album cover, a nice old school logo and a great album title. It's like Paganizer's Scandinavian Warmachine, but much more undead-like. And comparatively, Paganizer is not far off, along with a great many of Rogga's other retro death metal projects. In fact, I was half expecting to find that Rogga himself was in this band. But as far as I can tell, this is a singer known as VonPest.

This is a band that don't take the metal too seriously, and it's an album the listener doesn't have to take seriously either. What they do have going for them is a crushing production, with a thick, ominous guitar tone that is instantly going to appeal to anyone who isn't accustomed to it, or those who just want to feel like their skull has been steamrolled when listening to a death metal album. As for the riffing, it's what you expect now with so many bands revisiting this style (and so many older bands still kicking around). Rooted in Dismember and Grave, with a little Bolt Thrower for kicks, and a healthy dose of Disfear or Nasum's grinding to spice up the beats. The bass is loud and proud, and it adds quite a lot to what might otherwise be a rather hollow feel to the riffs. Speaking of riffs, this band does not have too many which stand out, but they make do with what they've written and assemble them into decent tracks like "This Saw Was Made For Killing" with its nice, ripping lead; the grooving, powerful "Sleepless" and "The Master Destroyer".

All Zombified tracks are not created equal, and I tend to lose interest when the band shifts into their more punkish, grinding generic qualities. The energy is rampant, but the guitars are simply not that interesting when they spit out riffs you've already heard (or heard close approximations of). As an overall work, Zombified Slaughtermachine is at least entertaining for a spin or two, but leaves absolutely nothing to remember it by unless you're a complete die hard for the band's light hearted horror aesthetics. They've definitely got the production values down to create a crushing force across the frontlines of the Swedish retro death/grind scene, but they could use a few more tracks like "Sleepless" which bowl a strike rather than a few pins. Compared to other bands like Tormented who have a far more grim, memorable take on the style, Zombified seems a little too forgettable. But as far as a debut album, it's tightly written and well engineered enough that a few deadbeats will devour it and ask for seconds.

Highlights: Sleepless, The Master Destroyer, This Saw Was Made for Killing

-autothrall
http://www.fromthedustreturned.com