Czech Death Metallers SCABBARD have released a reissue for their 1996 album "Beginning Of Extinction". This old school Death Metal group boasts a blend of symphonic elements with the traditional Death Metal sound. This album is a trip back to the black heart of the sound that made the Death Metal genre unique and popular in Europe that has grown into many different sub genres throughout the decade. It's a straight blast from the past with low fi techniques and oddly distorted guitars blended with menacing vocals and a dark ambiance.

"Beginning Of Extinction" is an album that immediately transports you back to the formation of the original Death Metal sound from the 90s. "Last Performance" has an audio sample that sounds like it's straight out of the bowels of Hell. The thudding of the drums sound like a foreboding message of things to come. The guitar riffs are interesting and add a layer of depth to the sound. The vocals are what you would expect from this era of music. Low gutturals with forceful energy. "The Hall Of Souls" is a slow sludgy track with driving drumwork to push it along. I do like its standalone bass riff. Sometimes the bass work can get lost in an album so bringing that sound to the forefront really helps lay a foundation for the track. The discordant piano sample mixed with a synthesizer adds an interesting layer to the track as well.

"Message Of Truth" has some nice running guitar riffs and drumwork to it. The double kick bass really gets a workout in this song. The vocals add that deep resonance to the track giving it a dark feel. "Beginning Of Extinction" is odd. The clean guitar work is interesting but seems a little out of place compared to the rest of the album. The riffs also do seem a bit repetitive in this track following closely to the same formula used throughout the album. While that does provide continuity for the album, it also makes the second half of the album a bit stale.

"The Good Mankind Has Died" brings us back to the sludgier parts of the album but also brings the tempo up in some places to add a bit of variety to the album. The vocals are the key to adding that deep dark ambiance for the album. Now the last track off the album "Tveret" I really enjoyed because of the clean guitar work. In this track, it blends well with the distortion and is a unique take on the Death Metal experience. Almost melancholy yet powerful at the same time.

All in all, "Beginning Of Extinction" was a mixed bag to me. This album did have some good points, some weird spots, and some stale parts. I really like listening to these reissues for the simple fact that they bring us back to the inception of some of the sounds that help define a genre and laid the groundwork for many genres later. This album did interest me from a nostalgia stance and did have some interesting, unique points but overall I would have to place this in the basket of normal Death Metal albums of the time. Having said that, if you wanna take a trip back to the past, you should go check this out just from the nostalgia stadpoint.