Taking a look at the artwork and logo of this when I pulled it out the packaging I got an immediate flashback and remembered covering the band on their debut 7” vinyl ‘Blood Enemy’ in 2015. Obviously Undead have a strong image and their music which was a good blast of old-school inspired death metal had also made its mark at the time. This is their second EP, on CD this time around from the Spanish / UK based crew and it delivers another four short sharp blasts of gnarly goodness that is sure to get heads banging and impress those that stumble across it.
‘Man Dies’ opens with some grating SweDeath sounding HM2 pedal bass ballast that cannot avoid you thinking of Entombed as it launches itself bloodily at you with choppy guitar work and thrashing madness behind it. Vocalist V. Repulse sharply barks away and the driving pace of this hits like a sledgehammer bolstered by a thick Tore Stjerna Necromorbus mastering. It sounds like the undead are really clamouring for flesh as it brutally barrages away with a feast of violent intent and gorily delivers the goods as with the other tracks in a bare bones, no fat, 3 minute odd running time. The title track is next and by comparison slowly broods in with a creepy malevolence about it before lurching off in a fashion that would have ghoulish fans of the likes of Autopsy rubbing their sweaty hands in glee. The doomy morass clatters off and takes up a charge rattling away with the vocal snarls suitably matching the hellish clamour. A guitar solo spirals out and you can almost smell the reek of maggots coming off this. ‘Volatile Existence’ adds more rotten meat to the mortuary as it grinds and clatters away embalming with all fashion of disgusting fluids in its musical evisceration. A melodic break gives it a coating like the crust of an 80’s cult horror movie and then it wildly slashes and scythes back into action on a violent killing spree. Last number ‘The Veil’ pulls the coffin shroud out the tomb, churning its way out the muddy earth of the graveyard and stumbling away on sluggish re-animated limbs. This one has a real doom laden feel and adds to the atmosphere before the drummer smashes away like he’s bouncing his sticks on skulls and it all charges off like the hounds of hell are snapping at its heels.
There’s little in the way of actual Redemption found here just 4 solid songs which deliver the goods just the way any lover of good old rancid death metal should enthuse about. Hopefully an album and some live performances could be in the future for this lot, until then I think I’ll be giving this one a fair few more blasts.
(7/10 Pete Woods)
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