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The Black Death - Dead Epitomes

Review written by Pasperou.

Tasmanian Black Metal two-piece The Black Death return with full length release Dead Epitomes. This release is fourty eight minutes of raw black metal combined with hatred and aggression. Made available in the Asgard Musik 9 Years, 9 Months collection and on cassette, which is already sold out.

There is no introduction or any interlude track on this album of any kind and it begins up front with hatred and pure aggression. Tremelo picked guitars are constantly in the forefront of this recording. The tone used isn’t so awful that it becomes painful to listen to or makes the riffs impossible to pick out. But it’s rather a somewhat clear, but still crunching, distortion. There’s no fuzzy whitenoise involved here. Just dark and sinister guitar work.

There seems to be little letting up of Jera’s distinct rasping cries and screams once a track gets into full swing. Jera sounds, on every Black Death recording I have, as though he is in some sort of terrible agony, spitting out his final words before dying. I can’t get enough of that style.

The drums are nearly always present throughout the album but are somewhat hidden behind the wall of distortion and howling which dominate the recording. The kicks aren’t easily heard and the snare drum has a perfect level amongst the first few tracks. The cymbals turned out quite tinny and raw.

There is a great consistancy in the production value and mixing of the first four tracks. The fifth track takes a step into territory reminiscent of their album Spreading the Plague of Black Metal with it’s even more tinny and treble-oriented sound. Also, this track is a rerecorded version of “Brown Shirts” from the Spreading the Plague of Black Metal album. Only this time the title is in German.

The album draws to a close with a twelve minute track. Jera seems happy to play a slow strumming riff as Jarmed bashes mercilessly on the drums. What follows next is a break to just slow guitar like the track’s introduction, then a return to Black Metal chaos before slowing right down a trickle at the track’s completion.

Raw Tasmanian Black Metal that I recommend for fans of early Darkthrone, Kill the Kristians, perhaps early Marduk aswell.

7/10