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MIASMAL
Cursed Redeemer

Century Media (2014)
Rating: 6/10

I’m really starting to get frightened of bands which are labelled as “Swedish death metal” because if any of the current bands are anything to go by, then I’m worried I’ll be suffocated by the mediocrity being belched out at quite a pace. We come to Gothenburg quartet Miasmal and yep, we’re back on the left hand path to dreary as dishwater death metal.

Why oh why can’t these bands just try, with all their might, to puke out something just a little different from the tried and tested black ’n’ roll grooves which Entombed and the likes bled out in what seemed like centuries ago?

Guys, there are so many bands intent on pulverising us with a sound that oh so quickly becomes tiresome because we’ve heard it a billion times before. While Miasmal do display some nice melodic touches amidst the chainsaw riffage, there’s just that whopping great element of déjà vu cast over this rough ’n’ ready mix of simple yet effective death metal.

So, these guys formed back in 2007 and this record is their second opus, following on from their 2011 self-titled debut. I’m not going to cast this sophomore platter aside however, like I have with so many of the contemporary incarnations of Swedish death metal, because for me it’s the never-say-die attitude of these guys and their relentless passion which just about saves the day for them. Having said that, none of the tracks really stand out because they all have similar structures to one another, but if I had to pick a trio of tracks then I’d have to go for the riotous ‘Until The Last’, the rollicking ‘Whisky Train’ and the closing ‘2013’ which all breeze by rather effortlessly and yet are several decades too late.

I guess after the initial impact of Entombed, Dismember and Carnage, Swedish death metal was never going to be the same and there is certainly a case at the moment where the scene is becoming drowned in mediocre bands all too eager to pay homage. With Miasmal there is a rock ’n’ roll edge to proceedings, but as vocalist Pontus Redig is quick to state, “All directions are wrong, And there are no maps left, Dark armies of betrayal, Their legacy is nothing”, it’s almost as if he’s speaking of the Swedish scene. As another raw, punchy riff cascades and a glorious groove of grit prevails, though I’m still left in mourning for the scene which is bucking under the trend.

Cursed Redeemer is one of the better modern death metal albums, but it’s one that may eventually contribute to the downfall of a genre which exists solely on mimicry. Some may call it paying tribute to the old school, but to me it’s more a case of flogging not just a dead horse but the last remaining bones of one.

Neil Arnold

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