So here is new label Dark Descent Records and their first CD release, the debut from Texas/Missouri trio Beyond Hell. Featuring Eletrokutioner (Decrepitaph, Father Befouled, Festered) on drums and two other dudes, you know what you are getting: Filthy old school death metal, that culls from the US scene. Namely Eletrokutioner’s bands, as well as Incantation and Autopsy. There are also traces of gnarly doom infested death metal acts like Hooded Menace, Funerus, Crypticus and Runemagick. And why stop there, when there’s just a little dash of old Stockholm death metal buried deep in there as well.

Comprising of 9 new tracks and 4 tracks that made up the And Evil Crept Through EP/demo from earlier this year, The Sleeper Awakens is crawling and oozing old school death metal that would be at home on Ibex Moon Records (next to Hod, Rape Pillage & Burn, Cardiac Arrest especially). It’s got a raw but earthy production, it’s simple, it’s sick and it’s enjoyable  – with no ambitions to be anything more.

None of the songs are going to blow you away, but none of the songs are going to warrant skipping either as the album rumbles and growls by in a rough and ready, perfectly timed 40-minutes. The mix of scrawling, drawn out riffs and old school Swedish gallop comes together nicely as displayed on tracks like “Apocalyptic Dreams” and rangy “Embrace the Eternal Darkness”.

Too bad it’s all somewhat forgettable.

For whatever reason, the four demo tracks were not available in the digital promo I got, but I imagine it’s safe to assume that they are not too different from the other tracks – I can’t imagine anything other than more of the same. Yet, I’m not sure if it’s a good thing or a bad thing.

[Visit the band's website]

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