It's common to hear bands using a traditional form of any Metal genre a fan can think of. In reality, this Old School Metal trend has deeper roots on Grunge Rock. This conception comes from the fact that bands from Grunge Rock looked for an organic and crude from of music that was laying in the 60's and 70's. The idea of using older forms of music and sonorities were born from this trend (in reality, the pioneer of it is JANE'S ADDICTION), and became popular into Metal during the second half of the 90's. This is the reason for a young band as the quartet NULLIFICATION, from Philippines, uses an Old School form of music on their first album, "Kingdoms to Hovel".

They play a form of Old School Death Metal inherited from the Second Wave of the genre, the one who brought bands as CANNIBAL CORPSE, DEICIDE, MORBID ANGEL and others to the public eye of the Metal fans. And they show the same crude and brutal use of traditional Death Metal elements on their work. It's full of energy and played in a good way, but the quartet needs to sharp their musical efforts, because they're too near of their main influences. Even the sonority was conceived to be like those from the past, crude and that allows the band to express its ideas with a classic set of tunes (the drums seem to be recorded with an acoustic kit). But the work was done in a form that all the ones who hear to their musical work can understand what's being played (although the solo guitars could be louder on the final mix).

They're a young band that is showing their ideas, and they have potential, as can be heard on songs as "The Sledgehammer" (fine set of guitar riffs and tempos from the drums), "Calamity from the Skies" (another very good work from drums, but with the right sustain given by bass guitar), "Kingdoms Reduced to Hovel" (that bears that catchy set of Hardcore influences that are common for Death Metal), "Negated Fields" (with very good slower parts and good grunts), and "I, the Nullifier". It's just a matter of playing live shows and setting their ideas into a more personal way, and even of time to things come to their right way.

For now, "Kingdoms to Hovel" is a good release for a first coming, but it's clear that NULLIFICATION is here to stay, then the hope that the band can evolve will not be laid to rest.