Swedish Death Metal for me is a little like Brazilian Death Metal, I really have to be in the mood to fully appreciate it. Now, don’t get me wrong I’m not saying I don’t like either of these niche subsets, I’m simply saying that I can’t listen to them all the time. I find Swedish Death Metal a little repetitive at points and the same can be said for Brazil. They both have that kind of vibe about them where they are super heavy genres but strangely lo-fi and understated at the same time, kind of like Black Metal I guess. The sort of music that is exceptional live and yet not some impactful on record, do you know what I mean? Maybe it’s just me, I know what I mean.
Anyway in recent years I’ve discovered a Swedish/ Icelandic outfit named Under The Church. Their 2017 second full length is a total tour de force of Extreme Metal bliss, and I would say one of the most underrated Death Metal albums of the last few years, seriously no one talks about this band and its mind boggling. Naturally I was thrilled at the prospect of reviewing their latest EP Total Burial. It comes out through Pulverised Records and promises yet more killer Death Metal, is it as good as past efforts though?
Day Of Reckoning opens up the hellgates with straight up SweDeath fire! If you’re a fan of Lik at all then Under The Church have a very similar, dirty Death infused vibe about them. One that most importantly isn’t afraid to be awash with catchy riffs and lyrical segments, Death Metal with form if you will. What you hear is what you get with this band and whilst there might not be a great deal of variation or evolution Spit On Your Grave offers up another slab of sloppy Punk edged Death Metal bliss. I’m inclined to call them Melodic Death Metal in the same vein as Desultory. A friend once put it to me that Desultory are a Death Metal band that is melodic and not a Melodic Death Metal band, make sense? Well if not perhaps stick some Under The Church on and all will become clear. So next, to the title track, again much more of the same, with some additional added groove. It’s another crushing catchy number and a further bolster to the bands anthemic back catalogue, certainly a song worthy of a title track nomination. After this, the final two tracks fall a little short, by no means are they bad they’re just there, my brain has kind of naturally switched off by this point.
You may consider this a little strange as I’m clearly passionate about Under The Church, well let me state that I am by no means putting forth this EP as bad. What I do want to say is I often find EPs, demos etc a little lacklustre, especially so when bands have already put out existing albums. For lack of a better term, they really live up to their name of ‘extended play’, an extension of existing material. Therefore often times they’re almost a b-side bolt on for the prior album. For bands starting out I can think of nothing better than an EP as a first release, but come on Under The Church, just drop another album already.
(8/10 George Caley)
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