Daemonicus

Host Of Rotting Flesh

Written by: PP on 23/05/2009 17:29:16

Daemonicus were formed in Umeå, Sweden in February 2006 with the apparent objective of writing blackened old school Swedish death metal with a solid groove. They've succeeded in their goal to an extent on their debut album "Host Of Rotting Flesh", but despite all the groovy serpentine riffs, I have one giant, massive complaint about the record overall: the vocalist fucking sucks. Sorry to be so blunt about it, but his style is honestly terrible and completely unsuitable for this band. He may be technically talented in that he's able to growl so you can actually hear his lyrics (to his detriment, more on that later), but there are some fundamental problems in his delivery: first off, it doesn't sound powerful enough for a death metal release (like a super-weak version of the Suffocation dude), as if he's in trouble with having enough air in his lungs to growl properly. Secondly, there isn't any sort of melody in his voice, which isn't such a problem normally for a death metal band, but when you simultaneously lack the power... well, guess the rest.

They've been compared to Dismember, Nominon and Kaamos, but since I'm not familiar with any of these bands, don't take my words for granted. The album sports lots of groove, lots of cyclical death metal riffs, and lots of old school spirit. That's all good and well, but I just can't get over their useless vocalist. Death Metal lyrics have never been a source of inspiration to anyone but the bleakest and most miserable of people, but this dude takes it all a step further on "Swarm Of Death": "Host of rottening flesh / Terrible pain eats its way through / Walking dead as bones cant fill the purpose to feed / Growing inside / Leatherlike shell soon bursting / There is no way out". Honestly, two questions: 1) What kind of person writes these type of lyrics for other than shock effect and 2) who actually listens to this and goes "oh wow, those are some seriously great lyrics". I wish this was the only instance of such horrid thematics, but it isn't.

In the end it can be said that even if you like old school death metal you can find countless better bands than Daemonicus. If they'd exchange their vocalist either with one who can growl with better melody (Enter My Silence vocalist would do great here) or alternatively someone who can metaphorically growl his lungs out (the dude from Gojira would do), this release would be so much better than it is. Right now, I wouldn't recommend it to anyone.

3

Download: Baptism Of The Dead, Swarm Of Death
For the fans of: Dismember, Kaamos, old school death metal
Listen: Myspace

Release date 29.05.2009
ViciSolum Productions

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