Swedish Death/thrash is the official characterisation of Septekh, this EP is their second, alongside one demo that the band have put out since their formation 4 years ago. Whilst the opener ‘Fuckslut from Hell’ may lead to preconceptions of their sound, it is thankfully not the raw bestial black thrash mess that is usually associated with titles of such a strong description, far from it. Septekh brandish a sound and aggression like that of old Witchery, certainly the guitar tone and the melody, a simple but effective opener. ‘Shoot Them All’ sounds like more straight forward thrash metal, but with a thin sound usually associated with black thrash whilst ‘Not Quite What I had In Mind’ (is a perfect decryption for this release actually!) is more like Deathhammer, it is very fast thrash that has a gravely growl in the vocal. I preferred this when it had more of a blackened thrash aspect as the drums sound rather thin and could do with some better mixing.
I find this EP confusing, there is no one particular style, and it’s almost like they have not decided what they want to play. Take ‘Eating the Maneater’ for instance, This has a massive amount of groovy, almost bluesy death metal, not quite death ‘n’ roll, more like that of that long defunct Swedish band 2 Ton Predator’s release ‘Boogie’. Therein lies my issue, for all the music is precise, entertaining and perfectly executed, I cannot help thinking that this release reeks of a band that have not decided on their application, their style, thus you think you are being entertained by a multi band compilation album. I would have imagined the EP to have more of a theme to it, especially with the title, and I don’t really see the relevance of the album cover.
(6/10 Paul Maddison)
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