Danish death metal? Did I hear that right? Now don’t get me wrong, I absolutely love Konkhra (forever one of the most over-looked metal bands of the 90’s), but outside of a couple of bands (Hatesphere spring to mind), Denmark really hasn’t been a hotbed of things of an extreme nature for some time. Turns out Bloodgutter are four mates from Silkeborg who came together in 2019 to jam together, though the accompanying PR blurb notes that this was despite them coming from some different musical perspectives.
So what do we get with “Death Mountain” ? Well, it’s worth a hike up it, is the short answer. This is pretty gnarly, ugly but undeniably ugly death metal done in the old way. The PR blurb says that this has been compared to old Entombed meets Obituary, and while I wouldn’t necessarily say that was the case, I would definitely say it’s got that trademark Danish groove, but actually with much more grit than you may be used to. “Down the Gutter”, for instance, has more memorable sections than you’d expect for a four minute track, but that guitar tone? Man, that is a guitar tone and a half. It sounds like a chainsaw gargling glass. It’s got the fuzz distortion dial turned up to 12 out of 10.
It doesn’t go easy on you anywhere else on the album either. “Fill the Graves” has the kind of self-assured swaggering tempo that would make 99% of modern metal bands blush. Lead vocalist Mikkel has the voice of a fallen angel, a deep and unrelenting burble that manages to not only scare the neighbours, but also has enough enunciation so that they’d know what they’re afraid of. Bjorn’s bass playing is a lesson in keeping it tight enough to drive the music, but loose enough to let the atmosphere breathe. Heinz has the skill to drop in unexpected chord changes here and there to stop this just being another old-school death metal release. Drummer NP plays drums the old fashioned way – he hits them unbelievably hard. You can hear the sound of the kit being thrashed to within an inch of its life.
Personally, I loved “Torture Sacrifice”, with its cheeky early Carcass drum intro reference, and – dare I say it – funky strut before the thickest, kinkiest, nastiest of riffs comes into town. Ladies and gents, this is one of the death metal albums that will make you want to move. It’s got plenty of character, and enough stupid, silly, goddamn heavy moments to make you sit up and smile.
(8/10 Chris Davison)
Leave a Reply