Artist: Livarkahil
Title: Signs Of Decay
Genre: Death Metal/ Hardcore
Release Date: 26th September 2011
Label: Listenable Records
Album Review
France’s LIVARKAHIL have released their sophomore effort ‘Signs Of Decay,’ and it is a slight improvement from their debut album. For those who don’t know much about this group, the closest band they relate to in sound is Polish Death Metal legends BEHEMOTH. With a similar growl that is dark, evil, and at times a sinister snarl, LIVARKAHIL create pummelling songs over almost semi-Hardcore rhythms, merging two genres together for a brutal offering that suits itself pretty well on its own. The album opens with ‘In nomine Patris’, which is just an introduction of what sounds like chanting in an arena (some will definitely link it to how ‘Evangelion’ opened for the last BEHEMOTH album). Then the music kicks in with ‘When Hell Is Near’, and the gritty, churning guitars just spit out excellent Hardcore rhythms amongst the growled vocals in segmented chugs that carries the ferocity of Death Metal, but are a bit more digestible as they come in waves rather than just sheer non-stop drum aggression. Even the vocals take on a bit of an industrial tinge to them with a flat, robotic drone that is something new for LIVARKAHIL and a rare touch on the album. On a different spectrum is ‘The end of everything’ which is more direct death metal that blasts away with no remorse and sounds much closer to BEHEMOTH than any of the other tracks present.
On ‘The art of bleeding’, the band shifts again. The vocals change again to add in some thrash/ heavy metal inspired shouting to diversify the growls, but they just don’t match up at all, with the thrash vocals coming off as annoying rather than complimentary. ‘We hail the victory’ carries itself as a long instrumental with some spoken word samples, but it allows the guitarist, bassist, and drummer to really show of their skills without the vocals drawing all the attention. Here, influences from DEVILDRIVER to THROWDOWN can be heard here. ‘The flesh of the damned’ is a “slow” track, but more in the haunting, dark sense as opposed to a ballad. It is still death metal galore, but the way the guitars are structured bring a whole new emotional effect into the music. Overall, LIVARKAHIL created the album that should have been the next MORBID ANGEL release as opposed to the more industrial death metal focused mess that just didn’t turn out as fans had hoped. ‘Signs Of Decay’ is thoughtful, crushing, and a solid piece of death metal with a few touches here and there that try to diversify most of the tracks from being complete repeats. While some might complain it is far too close to BEHEMOTH to really stand on its own with a “distinct sound”, most death metal fans will find this satisfactory in the sense that it doesn’t blow one away altogether, but doesn’t push them away either with being soft either.
Tracklist
01. In nomine Patris - 1:35
02. When hell is near - 3:34
03. Quiet heresy - 4:36
04. The end of everything - 4:00
05. Art of bleeding - 4:49
06. ...We hail the victory - 3:49
07. Above all hatred - 4:48
08. The flesh of all damned - 4:49
09. In light we die - 4:49
10. Heaven shall fall - 4:27
11. Signs of decay - 4:49
Line-up
Vocals – H K
Guitar – Kaiin
Guitar – Träume
Bass – Neil
Drums – Skvm
Website
www.livarkahil.com
Cover Picture
Rating
Music: 7
Sound: 8
Total: 7.5 / 10
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