From the promotional email: “For fans of Gorefest, Entombed, Bolt Thrower, Grave“
Fucking sold.
OK, so the promotional email might have been a bit of a stretch, but aren’t they all? And it certainly got me to check out the debut fro Switzerland’s Mnemocide (‘death of memory’). Entombed and Bolt Thrower might be a bit of a reach, but the Gorefest (at least their latter sound) comparison is spot on (especially the vocals) and they should have maybe added Illdisposed or Bullcreek. These guys have a robust, Danish sound delivering a form of groovy, chunky melodic death/groove metal, and it’s pretty good.
It’s simple, yet effective, especially when armed with a huge sound from Iguana Studios/Christoph Brandes (Finsterforst, Fragments of Unbecoming, Soul Demise) that’s displayed on opener “Crash & Burn”, super burly, neck snapper “In Pain” (boy, the militant stomp about 2 minutes in downright heavy), “Like Ghosts”, and more slow, menacing “Let Me Feed You”. That said, the album’s last few songs like “Dead Men Walking”, “Fear Me” and “Revolution Required” hit slightly less hard.
It’s hardly year end, world changing stuff, but man, it often hits hard and and the grooves are so hefty and catchy; a winning, extremely satisfying recipe in my book . Based on Feeding the Vultures, Mnemocide is a young/new band I’ll be keeping an eye on over the next couple of years.
