More and more, homages are becoming a norm in extreme metal. While not every band is going for the Gruesome approach, self-consciously playing metal in the style of a particular band or album, there are plenty who pay riff-service to the styles of old without the pretense of putting a “new spin” on things. Some people may decry this as a lack of vision or innovative spirit. Others just want to hear some classic death metal.
For the latter crowd, Chile’s Soulrot is coming out with their debut full-length album, Nameless Hideous Manifestations on April 24 on Memento Mori. And as you can tell from the song “From My Grave,” the band has definitely checked all their non-melodic Swedish death metal boxes. More specifically, they strike me as a mix of Clandestine-era Entombed and You’ll Never See-era Grave. The guitars have that telltale HM-2 snarl, and the reverb-soaked vocals are the perfect mix of L.G. Petrov, Matti Karki and Ola Lindgren. Hell the excellent cover artwork by Juanjo Castellano even looks like a Dan Seagrave production!
Apparently the band isn’t a totally new entity, but was originally formed in 1993. They broke up the following year once other commitments took hold. I suppose their re-emergence with this full-length affirms the phrase “never say never!” (or perhaps…”Never Say Die”…amirite???…sorry). So if you’re looking for the latest iteration of “progressive innovation” and the crossover of new styles, look elsewhere. If you just want more great death metal to add to your collection, give Soulrot a spin or two hundred.
