Damn, it is still a very strange feeling when you hear a band for the first time and then find out that they have been around for some 35 years. And that the album you are about to review is their 11th studio album to date. Plus the seven EP’s, four splits, four demos and the latest, the compilation album they did in 2022. Well, that is just what happened when I started researching CENTINEX, the Swedish Death Metal band. And do I feel like a fool? Not really, because if they would thought it very necessary, my Death metal admiring friends would have filled me in long before now. Do I feel short-changed? Actually, yes, I do, as this music isn’t bad at all. CENTINEX have made good effort on “With Guts And Glory”. In the 28:38 minutes that they are making a racket, they are doing it well.

There is no escaping the fact CENTINEX plays Death Metal, due to the tuning and sound of the guitars, the use of grunts and the intensity with which the band makes their music. But I have to say that they have surprised me with a lot of their riffs, as a lot of them sound like JUDAS PRIEST on steroids. They often are rather melodic in undertone, retaining a subtlety that a lot of the Death Metal bands lack. That does make this the sort of easy listening variety of Death Metal. On the other hand, the band are very capable of writing songs that have that little bit of familiarity without being too obvious, thus creating a sound on “With Guts And Glory” that to me is quite unique and discernible as what makes CENTINEX into what they are.

I have to say that after listening to “With Guts And Glory” I was disappointed that there weren’t any more songs on the album. I feel that with less than half an hour of new discoveries the audience could feel they deserved a few more tunes. Because if CENTINEX is one thing, it is that they are a solid and decent Death Metal band that have made the best album capable for them. I feel that this is good music that will appeal to a lot of Heavy and Thrash Metal enthusiasts, and not just the Death Metal afficionados that are out there. If all those Metallers will take the time to find out is an uncertainty, especially with the massive amount of releases thrown at us every week.