Zombiefication - At the Caves of Eternal [2013]

Zombiefication are yet another addition to Mexico's burgeoning old school death metal scene, and yet another band that straddles the conceptual, thematic and muscular tides of Dismember, Entombed, Grave, etc., forging an iron and cascading barrage of Swedeath riffs that are undeniably all too familiar. I was originally exposed to the group their EP ''Reaper's Consecration'', a worthwhile effort that pounded skulls and rocked skeletal beings just as hard as any other Swedeath act out there, and being released on the notorious Pulverized Records, a semi-underground label that made a name for itself by hiring less known Swedeath doppelgangers from random places across the globe (Graveyard, for instance, from Spain), I believe that the Mexicans attained publicity and success that they previously could not acquire with their debut full-length. That said, Zombiefication's style does not fill the bill for the classic Mexican sound. Not as atrociously scintillating as the wretched Shub-Niggurath with their demos from the early 90's, or as cunning as the more recent offerings of The Chasm, but still, amid a nebulous tenor of bands, Zombiefication finds its way to memorability and distinguishment.

What really baffled me is the distance made by the Mexican duo over less than a year. Despite the avid, seemingly ambitious release it was, calling  ''Reaper's Consecration'' a highly enlightened and innovative offering would be quite far-fetched. When I listen to ''At the Caves of Eternal'' right after I listen to the EP, I'm nearly taken to an entirely different atmospheric world, with generic, vehicular urges of ''Reaper's...'' replaced with a more seasoned, judicious sense of composition and the craggy ambiance exchanged for a much darker, and even beautifully oriented one. I'd say that the Mexicans switched their style from rehashing some hectic, ragged grave robber to a mature serial killer who has countless instruments of torture and murder veiled underneath a long, polished jacket laden with pockets. The duo's style now feels like an edgier and even slightly black-metal oriented version of Necrovation, who, with their self-titled album, completely blew me away last year. ''At The Caves of Eternal'' isn't as good as ''Necrovation'', but I love the fact that it unfolds with primal, brute simplicity, but the explores a range of musical preferences and dexterous approaches that a mad caveman would strive to comprehend even in the slightest sense.

There's a rich, booming texture that binds with the abysmal atmosphere to create a frightening horror background. Not merely as terrifying as some of the recent finds I have exhumed, like the new Vassafor or Cultes Des Ghoules album, but still a spectral wave that befits the band's brand of heavy, churning brutality. Of course, the course of the riffs have taken a rather abrupt turn as well. You still have your standardized vulgar chainsaw barrages that are bombarded through metallic soil and rotten flesh, but at the same time, wisps of melody plod along the balustrades of heaving old school Swedish death metal, and those so called wisps some times take on a larger role, dominating the entire riff pattern with narrating, trudging lead sequences, converting the classic mass zombie invasion scene into a graphic picture of a grotesquely severed zombie ripping a man's guts out with a blunted scalpel. The vocals are akin to Matti Karki at lower growl, and they too have undergone change - the timbre of a crazed cemetery ghoul barking in the night now booms with a wonderfully cavernous inflection.

In very few ways did I find this record agitating: in spite of the immense amount of variation put into it, there was still a feeling of repetition on rare occasions, and the songs could have used some trimming, as it was sometimes a bore to listen to six minutes of subterranean massacre. Nonetheless, I was far more impressed than I anticipated. The punitive and gorgeously murky atmosphere and texture was perfect, giving me taste of a wretched, dismal Dissection on sections where the guitar was being picked with immaculate speed and intensity, the variations in the tempo department was also a great change, and comparing the debut, ''Midnight Stench'' to the cadaverous sophomore is something like comparing a hyena to a fully grown, brawny hell hound. There will some folks who will prefer the raw, unbridled ferocity of the band's previous outing to the their more atmospheric inclinations, thinking some of the energy has left the sophomore, but as far I, and the other fields of music are concerned, ''At the Caves of Eternal'' is an outright winner.

Highlights:
Disembodied Souls
In The Gallery Of Laments
Soul Collector

Rating: 86%

Zombiefication - Reaper's Consecration

I remember vividly that once, before I was aware of this big Swedeath comeback, I searched relentlessly and tirelessly through the internet and through whatever useful sources I could find in order to exhume obscure Swedish death metal bands back to life, repeatedly listening to demos, EPs and numerous compilations with no real intention but to build myself up an abundant library of these Swedish doppelgangers that followed the same path as Dismember, Grave, Entombed, etc. Those were before I was acquainted with the gigantic Swedish death metal revival scene that started to dominate, and then plague the world ove rthe last three-four years. Don't get me wrong now, I still enjoy the buzz-laden guitar tone with copious chord hacks splintering the necks of many, but unlike my previous experiences, bands are now finding me, instead of me digging them out from the dust. And now, there so many bands that they almost seem impervious to kind of improvement, enhancement or distinction as the classic Swedish death metal overtone has settled deep in their hearts, solidified.

Mexico is definitely not the first place you think of when I say death metal, but bands like Toxodeth, Cenotaph and Mortuary were bands that I always had high regards for, and the current scene is also starting exploit better and better material, and yet, I still think Zombiefication is one of the most propitious bands I heard in the scene, not because they carve out utterly original distinct material but because they create some most accessible, heavy and well-balanced Swedish death metal. Zombiefication have been buttering their death metal for only three years, yet their quickness and productivity will affect their global success easily, it would seem. All the traits you'd want in your Swedeath ins pretty much, big, copious guitars with chunky, hefty tones overwhelming them, momentous chugs are eerie melodies bulging into the music at times, catchy chord progressions, and very slightly decrepit production quality, grasping a bit of that cavernous touch you'd always want in your sinister music. It's authentic in pretty much every way, but nuances still tend to be exploited every now and then, like the queer mid paced crunches and craving tremolo spams cutting through the dense, boxy production, as seen on the title track.

Besides its assorted offerings of subtle melodies, ''Reaper's Consecration'' is really not much a different listen than all the other Swedeath albums out there, but the good part is that it can at least keep the music fresh and spiky, vigorous and dynamic, yet the dark aura never leaves the metallic sphere that engulfs the EP. There are some brief moments where the album presents you some melancholic clean interludes, like the brusque breakdown on ''We Stand Alone'', which then alters right back into the aggressive form that it had taken two seconds ago. The drummer lays down some very intense and powerful beats as well, and the vocals have that monolithic, hollow edge to them, but again, this is stuff that I've heard many many times before. I can't really chide or doubt the formula of this EP, because everything is right there for you to see, yet, even though this is just another familiar ring in the ear, its blatancy is formidably enjoyable and the music crushing, so I think I'll just keep urging Zombiefication forward to produce some more for my pleasure.

Highlights:
Death Today, Dust Tomorrow
Necrohell
I Am The Reaper


Rating: 83%


Follow Zombiefication on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/zombiefication666

Ominous Crucifix-The Spell Of Damnation

Over the millions of old school DM worshippers, Mexico's Ominous Crucifix must be one of the most generic, straightforward ones. I've seen numerous bands garnishing their riffs with elaborate redundancy and addin striking features to empahasize the dynamicism, but really, this band wasn't really quite the spice I was looking for. ''The Spell Of Damnation'' can characterised with its solid riff structures, similar patterns, powerful backbone to enable the riffs strong and lasting and its terrible lack of linking different attributes together to improve originality or too add a bombastic touch to the album. The riffs are all hard-hitting, the atmopshere prevails for the most part and you can definetely get an old school Bolt Thrower/Benediction vibe, but that's really all that it offers.

There's a fair enough atmosphere prevalent on the album that obscures the music, the the encirclement of the this ambiguity is weak, as the riffs are perfectly comprehensible. The riffs are probably related to Bolt Thrower circa ''War Master'' especially, and they channel between mid-paced tremolo grooves and hefty yet fairly compelling death/thrash stomps. The reason this album didn't catch my interest (and probably many others' as well) is because there NO energy. No matter how good the riffs are, there is never something fresh to restore the energy and the patterns are so straightforward that the album travels like a long, numbing train ride, offering very little variation or contrast. Luckily the riffs we're talking about here are mostly decent ones, but then another poor quality of the album approaches and kills off almost all my enthusiasm. The vocals here, are even more shadowed then the riffs and ther style would fit more doomy death metal bands better than this one. They have no contast or energy to them just like the music itself, yet on top of such comprehensible, even simple death metal riffage, the vocals don't complement the music. ''Secular Omens Of Doom'' and ''Defiling The Altars of An Absent God'' offer some quality riffs with slightly faster tempos, but unfortunately that's the only refreshment Ominous Crucifix can provide on this album.

All the tracks in general follow similar patterns and structures but atleast the simplicity can provide some attention. There's really nothing technical, challenging or incomprehensible here, just a lack of good songwriting and perhaps some solid tracks and a nicely flowing array of powerful whirlwinds. I don't think any song here really outshines one another, but some are possibly more elaborately composed than the others. In conclusion, the rigid architecture of ''The Spell Of Damnation'' provides with some spunk and an irrelevent amount of excessebility that render it as one of the more common examples of OSDM.

Highlights:
Defiling The Altars Of An Absent God
Secular Omens Of Doom
Primitive Sin

Rating: 76%

Follow Ominous Crucifix on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.334855399892983.80736.334821123229744&type=3#!/pages/Ominous-Crucifix/213914485299717