Album Review: Putrified - Death Darkness Decay
Reviewed by Daniel Phipps
There are few things more obvious when it comes to death metal than the sound of a Swedish death metal act. Death, Darkness, Decay from the Stockholm based band Putrified is the band's new release which will rear its ugly head in May. Thiis 33 minute slab of festering and quite crushing death metal is the band's first full length effort and the first release for the band since 2016.
This collection of material gives you about as honest sound as you can expect from an old school sounding Swedish death metal band. The guitars have that classic dirty chainsaw sound that really carries the rhythm playing from the dark slow sections right through to its more furious pace. It really provides the album with it a proper crunch throughout. The lead guitar tracks by contrast are quite clean meaning you can really pick out the more intricate parts of these sections.
The vocals are extremely powerful as they progress through the records run length, vocally they remind me of a mix of classic Death and Obituary in their power and technique and they really match the powerful and dark sound of the music well. The drumming on the record is solid. A very minor thing for me is I would have liked the kicks to add more of a punch in the mix, as this record does seem very kick heavy having them come through a bit more would have really added to this record.
Death, Darkness, Decay is a very strong and extremely ferocious yet incredibly catchy collection of Swedish death metal. It is performed and executed with fantastic eye on the details of how to compose this style keeping the harmonies sounding truly evil and letting the lead playing shine but not taking the spotlight from the power of the rest of the album.
