Pure Slaughter

I got mixed messages when I first read the reviews here, but when I gambled on buying the cd and finally took a listen, I don't understand whats wrong with the reviewer below me (if your reading this please email me and we can have a chat). This is disgusting downtuned death with an eery sound that fits somewhere between Autopsy and Sweden... with a crushing feel that is PULLED OFF WITH CONVICTION!!!!

The thing that struck me first when I listened to this band, is the way the music is really catchy and flows really well, this is partly due to the production, and mostly due to the great songwriting. Unlike alot of death metal, this has a kind of rocking feel that makes you wanna bang your head and air guitar to the filthy guitar solos because it just reeks of energy!

Throughout most of the album, this band is churning out music at a raging midpace (if that makes sense) with a punkish Swedish-ABSCESS-MOTORHEAD feel to the rhythm, which is complimented by great catchy drumming. At times the band does break away into Swedish faster sections with tremelo picked riffs and thrashy drumming, aswell as slowing down to make some great AUTOPSY inspired doomy passages sprinkled with evil melodies. Another good thing about the band, as I mentioned earlier.. is song writing. The songwriting just feels perfect, nothing seems overdone, and nothing seems underdone, the tempo is always changing and the riffs are always sounding fresh, the guitar solos are handled with skill with higher pitched melodies that add to the atmosphere aswell as sounding completely badass! With regards to production, this band hit the nail right on the head, as there is a perfect balance between the rawness and being audible. As cheesy as this may sound, the instruments have been recorded in way that you don't just hear them, you also feel them! The vocals are great and sound pretty mean, rancid, and disturbing. I wouldn't compare them to Chris Reifert though. But I'd go as far to say that the vocals suit the music perfectly and do their job.

For a new death metal band that plays the old style, this is great! Although there is alot of AUTOPSY/ABSCESS worship (including a killer ABSCESS cover that blends in well with the rest of the cd), it would be a sin to dismiss this because it doesn't compete with "Severed Survival". It would be like comparing DEPRAVITY's "Silence of the Centuries" (which is also great in it's own right) to DEMIGOD's "Slumber of Sullen Eyes".

If you have a problem with listening to dirty, rocking death metal that has more attitude than MOTORHEAD themselves, then fuck off back to your crappy false "death" metal with overrated gravity blasts, pointless slam riffs, "bree" vocals and nu metal breakdowns. On the other hand, if your a fan of Autopsy, Abscess, and the Swedish side of the early 90's death metal Scandinavian scene, then you could do absolutely no harm by getting hold of this cd! Coming across albums like this is the reason I still listen to metal, and hopefully these guys can continue to regurgitate more albums in the future!

Okay, I'm genuinely leery of 'retro' releases these days. It's not so much due to the nature of the concept itself (though I'd be lying if I didn't say that it wasn't a portion of it), but more due to the issues that face such an undertaking. If you're going to do an 'old school' album, you have to walk a rather delicate line between becoming a parody of what you claim to revere and putting an overly modern interpretation on it. And, of course, there's the often-cited issue of simply not having been there for the thoughts, feelings and experiences that produced such music in the first place. All these factors make writing and performing such music a rather difficult task.

Axis Powers is one such band that tries to make such 'old school' music. In this case, the school's subject is an attempted approximation of early 90s death metal, in a style reminiscent of Autopsy. A noticeable hardcore influence is also present, above and beyond the usual thrashiness of oldschool DM. When it comes to performance, Axis Powers pretty much succeeds. On most counts, the album wouldn't seem very out of place if on a Wild Rags shelf a decade and a half ago. So in that dimension, 'Pure Slaughter' is an admirable success.

Of course, such a phrasing means there's a rub, and damn if there aren't a couple big ones. First off: the guitar tone is awful. This seems like a rather small and overly specific issue, but not when the guitar tone at hand sounds like lo-fi goregrind strings that would be far more appropriate for the latest Mortician release than anything related to oldschool death metal. I don't know what thought process resulted in Axis Powers thinking that barely distinguishable note values would be an appropriate addition. The other central flaw is how purely demonstrative 'Pure Slaughter' is. Instead of simply making an old school death metal album, this LP positively shrieks at any available moment, 'Hey, look at us! We're making an old school death metal album! Doesn't this sound like Obituary!?'

This all being said, 'Pure Slaughter' isn't really a loss. The music is packed with those semi-grooves that were so well used in early death metal, and the overall structure and writing is nothing to sneeze at. Most of the deficiencies in 'Pure Slaughter' are aesthetic in nature. Too bad that they're some of the most noticeable aesthetics there.
If you're looking for old school DM that strictly adheres to the days of old with regards to writing, go for it. But if you want the whole experience, just dig out your copy of 'Mental Funeral'.

(Originally written for http://www.heavymetalmeltdown.com)

Already the intro sets the mood for a blasphemous attack of old Swedish sounding Döds-Metal. Atomic Winter is the right opener for the next 41min of pure 3-riffs-per-song-massacres. To be able to compare this band, one must know the likes of early KAAMOS, early VOMITORY, early CARNAGE, DETERIOROT and Severed Survival by AUTOPSY mixed with an dirty rotten filthy production and with a way more "we stopped buying new records in 1992 in order to keep the pure Döds-Metal influences" than the previous mentioned band. The booklet states 2005 as year of recording, but it might also be 1991. But: No Sunlight studio production. But the guitars come close to that, and the drums sound also fantastic. I also like the cool growling voice which sounds like a mix of Johan Liiva Axelsson on the CARNAGE recordings and the ABHORRENCE (FIN) guy from the 7".

SWE-Death freaks who think the latest BLOODBATH recordings or the CHAOS BREED stuff sounds too polished should take note of this band. Consisting of several SUICIDAL WINDS members, the old-school approach is obvious. And oh, the last song is a cover tune by the AUTOPSY-follow up band ABSCESS, namely "Suicide Fuck" which sounds even more degenerated than the already awesome original version. An extrapoint for the complete out-of-control band pictures in the booklet.

Highlights: Atomic Winter, Pure Slaughter (for the AUTOPSY riffs) and Evil Warriors (for the "The Day Man Lost" tribute-riffs).