DEATH METAL TRAINS! Doesn't get much more metal than sixty-thousand tons of steel rocketing towards a destination, which I hope for metal's sake is hell.
Sorcery are an old school death metal band in the vein of the classic Swedish crust-influenced style. To give them credit, Sorcery were also around in that early scene and have a full-length titled Bloodchilling Tales from 1991. Regardless it's still extremely easy to point to a billion similar artists in 2013, but Sorcery sound more like Tormented or Dismember than say a band like Blood Mortized or The Grotesquery. However where Tormented are fast and d-beat driven, Sorcery occasionally take things a bit slower and plenty of their tracks peak at mid-tempo with chugging riffs.
"Master Of The Chains" is one such track and while the sustained notes halfway through do herald in a new melody and break up the monotonous simple chugging riffs, I can't say I'm too engrossed in Arrival At Six's slower tracks, the title track being the exception. I prefer the more direct and energetic riffing style of "Created From Darkness And Rage," "Warbringer," and "United Satanic Alliance." Can you tell I've been on an energy kick recently? I need it to keep up my work ethic somehow I guess...
I can see some people questioning them, but if you enjoy Matti Kärki's vocals on Like An Ever Flowing Stream, then you'll definitely enjoy the vocal style here despite the noticeable filter. It's an appropriately shouty style tinged with guttural thrash. There's plenty of tremolo riffing goodness and quick melodic phrasing over basic punk-based bass and drum rhythms, and everything is audible in the mix just fine. There's really not much else to say about the album. If you listen to a lot of similar material you won't be blown away, but you won't be disappointed either. This is one of the "true" old school bands after all.
Despite the great album art, Arrival At Six is an exercise in archetypal Swedish death metal, but that's totally fine. It is still a fun formula when you're in the mood for it. That mood just becomes less and less frequent as time goes on.
7.5 out of 10
Tracklisting:
1. We Who Walk Among The Dead
2. Created From Darkness And Rage
3. Master Of The Chains
4. United Satanic Alliance
5. Arrival At Six
6. Warbringer
7. Maculated Life
8. Beyond The Wall
9. Reborn Through Hate
Listen // Buy
Ha, definitely agree with the last paragraph you wrote. When you're in the mood for that style it's fucking awesome.
ReplyDeleteYou should check out/review Chthe'ilist's demo! It's so good.
I actually have it! I've listened to it a few times. I've been really busy as of late but hopefully when I have time I'll be able to sit down and properly review it.
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