Germany’s Stigmatized REALLY like their rather influential luminaries Morgoth, especially vocalist Michael Lay, who apes Marc Grewe to a T. So then expect a lot of mid era Death influenced death metal as well as some Asyphx, Pestilence and early Floridian influences (namely Obituary) in their debut record, a re-release of their 2006 released effort on Yonah Records.

Despite all the old school name dropping though, Stigmatized, even with their relative ability to ply such a revered sound, don’t quite hit the mark. Sure everything is a mildly technical, yet mid paced, polished and slightly melodic and solo filled, making for a refreshing change from brutal blasting or endless ‘reeeee-core’, but Stigmatized, except for maybe a few moments here and there, don’t have ‘it’ in the song writing department yet.

Still though, this is an acceptable release from a band that’s respectfully stuck in somewhat of a time warp from when they formed in 1995. The 10 tracks are competent and enjoyable for what they offer with numbers like “Obedience Through Ignorance”, “The Eye”, the more extreme “Unseen Forces” and decent closer “Nation From Beyond” (even the track names are straight from 1995) delivering some old timey goodness that emphasizes structure over speed, but nothing truly mind blowing, even for an old school death metal guy like me.

[Visit the band's website]

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