Ok, right. Why am I here? No not in this reality, here with this review. Well controversial director Lucio Fulci’s 1981 shocker and alleged video nasty has a special place in my heart. Weird, fucked up and gory it was also the first VHS I ever rented as a teen, well before tabloids and certification ruined our fun. It’s just one of those perfect discoveries. The idea of a death metal band named after and with a debut devoted to the film seemed kind of spot on. I mean it had to be death metal didn’t it?
Anyhooo, House By The Cemetery are another of Rogga Johansson’s endless/restless projects, this time accompanied by Monstrosity’s Mike Hrubovcak and Paganizer’s Matthias Fiebig. So, have they summoned Dr Freudstein back to our world…?
Er…
Big breath. This is, as you would expect from the alumni listed above, an extremely well-played and produced album. I mean these guys are who they are so it is well beyond simply competent. The sound is sharp and aggressive, the drumming on point and the vocals full throttle. They riff hard and with conviction edging into that technical death metal zone. And at a fine death metal 30 minutes it’s concise too, no padding at all.
So, what’s up? Well, it honestly for me is two-fold.
Firstly, this just does not conjure up the twisted world of The House By The Cemetery for me. This, atmosphere and style wise, could be about anything for me. Too clean, too straightforward with its typical riff structure and style it is simply well played but sadly rather generic death metal. When you set out your store aiming at one film it needs to have something in the style to suggest that, and whilst everyone gets something different from a film, for me this is too clean and too predictable. For a film that has creepy kids communicating in whispers to each other over large distances and maggots tumbling out of corpses it is too full in all the time and too precise.
Secondly, I just really don’t think the songs are up to…er…snuff. Really even in half an hour this just bleeds into similarity for me. I tried, I really did. I’ve spent more than five hours trying and it just gets nowhere.
I guess Rogga Johansson completists will like it (does anyone earn enough to keep up with him?) and I’m sure dyed in the wool nothing but death metal fans will know why I’m wrong here but for me, for the film and for the songs I’m left with an album that is excellently executed musicianship wise but lacking in the important ingredients of atmosphere, songs and excitement.
But what do I know? I guess it’s only half an hour out of your life so maybe give it a whirl for yourself wherever its being streamed.
(4.5/10 Gizmo)
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