This is the first time I’ve caught up with Miasmal since their 2011 album, “Miasmal”, which I recall being pretty impressed with at the time. Since that time, the Swedish four-piece has released a split with fellow death / thrash Swedes Vampire, and another full lengther in 2014.
Well, ploughing straight into opener “Axiom”, and I was certainly in for a surprise! Miasmal sound much meaner, sharper and clearer than I remember, with a really punchy modern metal production that doesn’t at all lean on the old-school Swedish death metal tropes. With a really in your face drum face and a raging death metal pace, this is the kind of opener that really states intentions clearly. “Deception” carries on, with more than a hint to elements of hardcore in some of the riffing, and sitting just the death metal side of death / thrash, bringing to mind the heavier moments of much-missed crew Carnal Forge, with a particularly mosh-heavy ending section. Extra points for having an ending solo that brings to mind the finer points of early Motorhead guitar solos!
“The Pilgrimage” is a hefty, muscular mid-tempo stomper that again maintains the precise production – which is all the more impressive given that the band both wrote, performed and recorded the album themselves in their practice room, before giving the mastering duties over to Studio Fredman for the finishing touches. “Venemous Harvest” picks up the tempo again, with some really excellent drum fills, and a grinding feel that propels the track rapidly through its sub-two minute ending time. ”Perseverance” begins life semi-ballad like, but continues to become a dissonant slow-tempo number with prominent guitar soloing.
The album features some really varied song-writing, which means that Miasmal have spread their creative wings a little, and are less reliant on the generic death metal sound, bringing in some of the rawness of thrash metal without becoming an out and out thrash metal band, but really for me the stand out feature of the collection has to be the excellent guitar playing, with frequent, well written and well played solos that really add flair and flavour to the songs. As with many albums, not every song is a classic – one or two don’t have that memorable a quality – but overall, this is a death metal album that manages to produce songs that linger in the memory, while retaining some of the rock and roll that can often be missing from albums. “Fear the Flesh”, by way of my closing remarks, is also bloody brilliant. Check it out if you can.
(8/10 Chris Davison)
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