Album Review: "Third Beastial Mutilation" by Stormvold

Third Beastial Mutilation

Honestly, I'm really surprised at some of the music that comes my way.

I do have personal policies when it comes to what I'll review and what I'll check out even. There are things that I've looked at them and thought...no...no way in hell..haha

When I saw the title Third Beastial Mutilation, I have to be honest, it seemed fairly certain to me that this music would be too offensive to be published here.

I didn't give it much of a perusal and didn't read the presser that accompanied it too closely. When music has a title like this, it's typically not that good.

In metal, offensive titles are the same thing as selling sex instead of music.  Well, I listened to this album and I realized that it's far more than just a title, and the artwork doesn't jive with what I normally take as intentionally offensive music, so I listened to it.

Stormvold has crafted a masterpiece of old school death metal with Third Bestial Mutilation.

Each part of the music brings something to the table that makes the music slightly different than say Deicide, Obituary, or Carcass, but there's enough in common with all three of them to make this record fit in with that crowd.

But hailing from Madrid, Spain would've been enough to keep them out of that group I think....

This album exceeds expectations by defying death metal conventions. Instead of thundering snares and double bass blastbeats 95% of the time, there are mountains and valleys in the drums.

No triggers are used on this record. The double bass blasts are all done with proper drums. In the heaviest moments, they are felt more than heard. Though they thunder like carpet bombing, they feel like an avalanche crashing down.

The rhythm guitars have that holy grail tone... A heavily overdriven fuzz sound that Slayer used to such perfection, but with a strong mid-range and bottom end rumble.

If this sound could be distilled into a distortion pedal, every up and coming death metal guitarist would  have 3.

The leads are a bit avant garde. Instead of wailing sweep picks or blistering arpeggios, the leads start off with harmonic swells and move into Buckethead styled solos. They move so quickly from A to B, it sometimes feels like a synthesizer.

The vocals, though guttural and harsh, do not overpower the sound. They are mixed down into the background and fell into line with the drums.

Strong and atmospheric.

Finally, this album begins slowly and moves into the brutality and speed on the back side of the eight tracks. It feels like the space between two armies as they prepare for battle in medieval Europe with swords drawn.

In the beginning, the space is large and languid and at the end, there is no room but that of the swords strokes.

All metaphor aside, this is the best death metal record of 2014.

Release: 11/15/14
Genre: Death Metal
Label" Xtreem Music
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