I like to think I’m fairly familiar with bands playing Swedish styled Stockholm buzzed death metal from all corners of the world. I’ve heard bands from France, Denmark, UK, Greece, Poland, Czech Republic etc, but other than Mexico’s Zombiefication, Central/South America seems a bit lacking in that style. Well here is a new addition, Venezuela’s Nocturnal Hollow. Come to think of it, I cant really recall much death metal of any style from there, but I digress.
Much like the other recent Underground Movement release by Rotten Casket, Deathless and Fleshless is a sort of compilation combining tracks the bands 2015 Fleshless and Deathless EP and some new tracks. And like Rotten Casket, while not doing anything awfully original, they do the style justice, with big, mid range buzzing guitars, dusty gallops and musty grooves.
There are a host of the expected influences that other recent bands have done as well like and these guys are right there in that same area as other 2016 effotrst from the likes of Demonbreed, Ulcer, Witch Vomit, Graveyard, Eteritus, Interment, Ashcloud, Sorcery et al. They have the guitar tone down pat, and with a bit of a more raw Autopsy must here and there, some Van Drunen meets Ola Lindgren vocals and some solid song writing, it all comes together impressively. Standout tracks include “The Incantation of Ashtaroth” (when the guitars kick in after a short intro, it’s devastating), “Devilish Blood”, “The Crypt” and closer “Your Curse….Your Death”, which all have a familiar instantly recognizable Stockholm gait.
Some changes of pace occur for latter, the non EP tracks like the more restrained Grave-like churn of “As Blood Flows”, “Beyond Death”, “Hammer of God”, and a real slow burner in “The Blackest Sorrow”. but still, everything is pretty familiar to anyone who enjoys the genre and it’s primary players. Nothing strays too far from the path as these guys , like most in the style, know their calling and just hammer away with aplomb rather than reinvent the wheel. And this wheel has been perfect for decades.
