Firstly, apologies to those of the band and their support mechanism who may read this for the tardiness in the review; sometimes real life and work intervenes hard and pushes those things that make life worth living into the background. Secondly, allow me to raise a stiff middle finger to said events for preventing me enjoying this solid slab of rock goodness for so long! Hailing from Poland, Death Denied may have been on the go since before 2009, but it is only now with their latest album ‘Through Waters, Through Flames’ that I have discovered them, and damn but I’m glad that I have.

Opener ‘The Apostate Soul’ muscles its way out of the speakers with dirty riffs that reek of weed and bourbon fumes redolent of the American South rather than the heart of Poland. This is swiftly followed by the chug of ‘High Priestess of Down Low’, the sludge of NOLA clashing with the Sabbathian riffs of industrial Birmingham, and that’s the original British one, not any of its offspring spread throughout continental America. Talking of America though, ‘Lesser Daemons’ throws a country twang to the sound, but not the artificial glitter of the rhinestone clad cliches that some folks may think of, but rather the whiskey bar boogies of ZZ Top. This is a track that will not just have your neck moving, but having your feet move to the beats too, and if I’ve just created an image of a load of metal heads line dancing, well, it’s an image that sprung into my mind too. Worry not though, any thoughts of dancing are driven away by the sprint of ‘Carnage’, unless your idea of a shaking a leg involves a circle pit of course, a sound that continues apace with the motorcycle roar of ‘The Machine’, the drum and bass pounding along with the precision of a well-built engine tearing up the highways.

‘Behind the Surreal’ leaves no time to rest, initially subjecting the listener to another sonic bludgeoning, before the vocals fly back to the age of grunge as apparently the ghost of Layne Staley manifests to take mike. If that weren’t enough, the band then goes full Evil Elvis for ‘Smoke, Soot, and Solitude’; you will not be surprised to learn that their back catalogue includes a track on a Danzig tribute back in the day. Not all is doom and depression though, and ‘Concrete Cathedrals’ despite the dark theme of the song, has a blues-rock riff that could have been conjured from the fingers of the late, great Malcolm Young to have your feet stomping. The Southern rock sound is upped with the crawl of ‘Celestial Choir’ before proceedings are brought to a close by ‘Nocturnal’, a number that starts out with the rough stoner sensibilities of early Orange Goblin’s forays into the psychedelic, before halfway a sleazy as fuck saxophone solo takes the lead redolent, of the bump and grind of some seedy nineteen-fifties “gentlemen’s” club where the lights are low, the drinks are watered down, and the entertainment taboo!

Whilst Death Denied in the literature that accompanied the CD describe themselves as “Southern Metal”, and that sound does indeed thread itself into the fabric of ‘Through Waters, Through Flames’, they clearly have so many more influences that they bring to their music. Whilst their webpages don’t advertise any dates outside of Poland at the moment, if their live sound can match their recorded work, I know if I get the chance to see them perform, I will make the journey, and until then, I guess my wallet is about to take a battering chasing their back catalogue.

(8.5/10 Spenny)

https://www.facebook.com/deathdenied

https://deathdenied.bandcamp.com/album/through-waters-through-flames