Album Review: Anatomia / Undergang - Split LP
Reviewed by Patrick O'Reilly
Two giants of the death metal underground come together on this split LP and the results are staggering! The bands have differing styles but share lots of similarities, both revelling in a fetid, decayed atmosphere and aesthetic. So how does it sound? Let’s open the crypt and find out!!
Anatomia are first up and the order of the day is pure Autopsy worship. This is rotten, dirty old school death metal with a strong doom vibe. Twelve minute long opener ‘Total Darkness’ is a masterclass in doom death. It’s slow, ridiculously heavy and the perfect antidote to overproduced polished metal. One section even descends into funeral doom territory before returning to grimy death metal. Second track ‘Bound to Death’ ups the pace a little, but still retains the doomy feel.
Production on Anatomia’s tracks is decent, though the style of music makes for a bit of a muddy mix. Fans of old school death won’t care though and will be banging their heads to this for sure.
Danish deathsters Undergang are up next with three tracks of rotten sounding death though they take their cues more from the Swedish scene than Autopsy’s sound. This is HM-2 pedal, chainsaw tone guitars and a punkish attitude though it still reeks of death and decay and is drenched in old school death atmosphere.
The tempo rises in comparison to Anatomia with some higher tempo beats sitting alongside mid-tempo crawls. Undergang play with energy and enthusiasm and a nice meaty production makes for a superb B side to this split.
This is a quality release from two bands at the top of their game and leading the underground Death Metal scene. It’s heavy and dirty and if you like your death metal this way you will really dig this release.
I would recommend this album in particular for fans of – Autopsy, Incantation, Entombed, Grave, Coffins
