As of late, I'm seeing significant resurgences in various 'old school' styles of Metal, whether it be Power, Heavy, Prog or Thrash. What I have yet to truly rediscover in modern releases is, however, a return to traditional Death Metal; think back to the earliest albums of DEICIDE, MORBID ANGEL and CANNIBAL CORPSE. This is exactly what I have found in Greek Death Metallers BLOODY DONATION, who have recently released their debut full-length. "Vengeance of the Enslaved" contains everything a fan of true, traditional death metal could ask for; including the raw, no-fuss, muddy recording quality.
"Regime Of Bondage" begins the venture with a strong, thick, DEICIDE-like sound; Stelios even sounds like Glen Benton. It is a mad, mindless, manic onslaught that transitions from deathly dirges to erratic and brutal batteries of guitars and drums. The one thing that caught me out with this song was the strange of the drums; unfortunately, in so far as the beginning of the song, they come off as far too high in the mixing; the toms in particular have a detached, strange sound about them. Eventually, luckily, this is lost amongst the razor-edged guitar riffs. "Political Misery" shows a favourable leaning towards Thrash Metal; in this case, a strangled, devilish mix of death and thrash. Obvious thrash metal vibes are caked with Stelios' powerful and gruff approach to Death growls, which do not at all sound strained, and sound brutally natural. I don't know how, but the guy makes it sound easy, and we all know how difficult it is to properly pull off effective death metal vocals. If the arrangements weren't enough, the chaotic and hellish guitar solo is a perfect fit.
"To the Gallows" is one of my favourite endeavours on this record, because of the artful thought put into the writing of the song. The instrumentation at the beginning of the song sounds much like something from BEHEMOTH, whom I consider to be extreme metal's masters of evoking colour and emotion through brutality over what may be considered by some to be a wall of sound. The musicianship throughout this track is spot-on and, for what is essentially a very raw-sounding recording, the music sounds extremely tight; erratic enough to exude brutality, yet still showing off the members' technical skill without muddling the playing of notes; a common and unfortunate thing I hear in some Death Metal. I also enjoyed the final track "Path of Deliverance" for mostly the same reason; definitely the slowest song on the album, easily sitting at a Doom-like tempo, trudging slowly along a path of deliverance. I have always felt this best way to end a Death Metal album; I hear it happen a lot on DEICIDE's work; somehow, it makes the album sound finished. Musically, it is relatively simple compared to the rest of the album's songs, but it is equally powerful, for a number of different, funeral, dark reasons.
I may not be a personal fan of this style of Metal, but I can definitely recognise the importance that this kind of music holds, and I can commend BLOODY DONATION on their efforts to stay true what is, in all honesty, an immortal sound, but branding it with their own uniqueness.
