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DEMONICAL
Black Flesh Redemption EP

Agonia (2015)
Rating: 7/10

Demonical is a typically Swedish death metal band that arrived in 2006 following the demise of Centinex (who reformed in 2014), but all too quickly grates on the ears as just another combo paying homage to the old school scene.

I’m losing count as to the amount of similar sounding bands that have emerged in the last decade or so and remain intent on aping the classic buzz-saw malarkey of Entombed, Dismember et al. It really does become rather annoying hearing such formulaic and predictable death metal which doesn’t really try to be anything else. To be kind though, Demonical, featuring original Centinex bassist Martin Schulman, are probably one of the better bands doing this sort of chainsaw riffage and harsh vocal grunts in the style of their peers.

Black Flesh Redemption is a four track EP from a band that has a half-decent catalogue showcasing four solid, if unrewarding, full-length releases and a few split projects. What we get here are a batch of Swedish death metal-by-numbers exercises which all boast that catchy loose riffage which I was so thrilled by in 1990, but do I really want to hear it again? Well, not really. Having been presented this with new EP though, it’s only fair to try to sit on the fence and give it a non-biased review and hopefully not keep harping on about its flaws and imitations, which in turn cause limitations.

The opening track is ‘Cursed Liberation’ and begins in that recognisable Swedish death metal fashion; the drums are insistent and galloping and work well with that guttural guitar sound, which in turn is matched by Sverker “Widda” Widgren’s lethal vocal growl. The track is reasonably fast and without any real shine, but it does exactly what it says on the tin, offering up a gritty melody within the grating mire. The twin-guitar attack leads to a nice mid-tempo of melancholy, and it’s nice to hear the band slow down and offer something out of trend.

‘Drown In Flames’, however, reverts back to type. The drum literally hammers in gravelly fashion to work in cohorts with Martin Schulman’s booming bass, but once the pace picks up we’re in that formidable yet familiar scheme of things and it soon begins to bore.

The lengthy ‘Throne Of Perdition’, meanwhile, is the best track on the opus. It begins in real ominous fashion and is proof that the band actually benefits from being a slower beast – the sombre, doom-drenched grating of the guitar really works well alongside the bellowing vocals. Even when the track ups the pace, Demonical remain outside of that formulaic Swedish ramble, instead boasting great, brooding melody bolstered by that infectious drum nod.

The final number is ‘To Become The Weapon’; a short and fast expression where all hell breaks loose as the band resort back to that early 90s grizzly racket – an all too predictable way to end the platter, but within the coils of this EP there is evidence that Demonical has more to offer than just mediocre mimicry. I just wish these sort of bands could see through the “paying homage” and try to incorporate their individual identities rather than heavy influences.

Black Flesh Redemption rarely breaks new ground, if at all, but the band – even nearly a decade into its career – still hints at better things to come within that tried and trusted framework.

Neil Arnold

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