Artist Zombie Inc.
Title: A Dreadful Decease
Genre: Death Metal
Release Date: 26th August 2011
Label: Massacre Records
Album Review
ZOMBIE INC.’s debut album ‘A Dreadful Decease’ may seem like an interesting play on words with a catchy taste for comic book horror similar to the way ROB ZOMBIE does his work, but that’s not what fans a really excited about. Aside from bringing forth another great memory of old school death metal with a sound similar to that of bands like BLOODBATH, older HYPOCRISY, and EDGE OF SANITY (and lots of fans have been going crazy over how earlier BLOODBATH was indeed the perfect death metal album), this also marks the return of Martin Shirenc, formerly of PUNGENT STENCH, whose rough, dark vocals have been sorely missed from death metal these days. Also highly praised is Wolfgang Rothbauer, the guitarist of German band DISBELIEF who adds the gritty tone to the music to fuzz it up and make it sound more anthropomorphic as opposed to mechanically designed like some bands tend to do such as DARK TRANQUILLITY. Track after track ZOMBIE INC. takes a brutal, but tasteful spin on horror death metal involving death, destruction, and of course, the undead.
As said before the moment ‘The Chaosbreed’ hits the speakers, listeners will instantly be reminded of BLOODBATH’s ‘Resurrection Through Carnage’. The guitar tones just sound like they were completely soaked in reverb to make the atmosphere feel like a doom metal album and the drums feel muffled, but more percussive. Of course, rather than go full on “brutal death metal” style which would make everything a wall of sound and unbearable to hear, ZOMBIE INC. prefer to go for more of a groove oriented death metal that isn’t so much SIX FEET UNDER, but at lot catchier than something like DEEDS OF FLESH. Then there are Shirenc’s vocals which cut through the air like a knife through butter, and even though they sound a bit alien with how clear they are compared to the rest of the music, it just seems to fit in the right way. There is even enough bleed over from the guitars to make the vocals murky enough to have that 90s haunt to them, but not enough to make them sound like they were recorded on a demo. Other tracks like ‘Bloodrain Overdose’ aim for the slower, rhythmic chug, but also incorporate samples from horror movies of people being killed (most likely by zombies), so again that whole ‘horror movie’ effect is also brought on right before the music just explodes with the drums sounding like machine gun fire to keep the zombies back with Shirenc offering one of his rare piercing screams.
Ultimately ‘A Dreadful Decease’ has its work cut out for itself, and may have the same pitfalls that ‘Resurrection Through Carnage’ did. While it is the quintessential 90s death metal album of 2011 that beats out DISMA’s ‘To The Megalith’ (also considered one of the ultimate reminiscent albums of 90s death metal with the return of the vocalist from INCANTATION), it does have a limited range of sound with the fuzzy nature of the music and tendency to stick solely to zombie themes. Like a CANNIBAL CORPSE album, ‘A Dreadful Decease’ may appease only a small number of death metal fans who really like that strict, crunching sound, as opposed to some of the more diverse bands out there. However, it has been said time and time again that there had to be a second coming of perfected death metal with a sound from 1999. And ZOMBIE INC. has achieved that second coming!
Tracklist
01. The Chaosbreed - 4:05
02. Deadtribe Sinister - 4:18
03. Challenge Of The Undead - 3:58
04. Horde Unleashed - 4:37
05. We Must Eat! - 3:29
06. Bloodrain Overdose - 5:09
07. Grim Brutality - 4:03
08. Horror Fills This Hollow Earth - 3:38
09. A Dreadful Decease - 4:16
Line-up
Martin Schirenc - Vocals
Wolfgang Rothbauer - Guitars
Gerald Huber - Guitars
Daniel Lechner - Bass
Tomasz “Nefastus” Janiszewski - Drum
Website
http://www.myspace.com/zombieinc666
Cover Picture
Rating
Music: 9
Sound: 10
Total: 9 / 10
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