To stay as classic as you can or to try to create something new is a choice that a band must do in its origin, even when it’s not intentional. But in any way chose, you can be yourself (in reality, you must be), it’s not trying to be anyone else than yourself. On Death Metal, acts of the second wave weren’t so different from what DEATH, POSSESSED, MASTER, MASSACRE, REPULSION and others started, and as time passed by, they evolved to a more personal form (even when holding ground on their prime work). And a very good offering on “The Stench of Eternity”, the new album of the North American quartet CARDIAC ARREST.

Brutal and classically Death Metal, the sonority is rough and brutal as on the early days of the genre, when things were being created. The works of Nick Gallichio (the band’s drummer) on the sound engineering and mixing and Javi Feliz on the mastering were done to keep the band’s music as Old School Death Metal as it could. And the artwork of Nev for the cover states clearly what the album’s songs are about. As the words above defines, the quartet plays a classic form of North American Death Metal of the early days of the 90s: brutal, noisy and aggressive to the bones, with Grindcore (as some drumming on “Maggotbrain” depict clearly) and influences and Hardcore hooks clear in many points (as heard clearly on many moments “Means to an End”). They’re not reinventing Death Metal, but are playing in the classic sense with honesty and identity.

The album is coherent and solid as granite, so it’s not easy to have best moments on it. But for a first taste on it, “Maggotbrain” (a brutal song in a Old School Death Metal way, with grunts filling the spaces in a great way, and with many hooks inherited from Hardcore), “Victims to the Blasphemy” (fast and aggressive, it bears very good rhythmic arrangements, showing a solid work on bass guitar and drums), “Beg, Plead, Crawl” (a massive Death Metal strike plenty of Grindcore influences, and what massive riffs’ wall is shown here), “Means to an End” (again the Hardcore and D-beat influences are clear), “Bullets Are the Only Cure” (the speed decreases a bit, depicting fine arrangements and abrasive guitars), and… Well, you’ll find many hidden treasures on “In the Name of Suffering”, “Born to Be Buried”, “No Human Will”, “This Is How You Die” and “From Civilized to Sadistic” as well, so dive into it!

For Death Metal fans, “The Stench of Eternity” is a very good release and deserves to be heard. And as the band’s 8th full-length, it depicts that CARDIAC ARREST still has energy to create very good music.