Having not heard these guys before, but with them being from Denmark, featuring members of Cerekloth and Undergang and residing on Deepsend Records, I was fully expecting yet another slab of powerful, chunky Danish death metal a la The Cleansing, Dawn of Demise or Corpus Mortale. However, Deepsend threw me a bit of a curveball.

Worshiping at the altar of the likes of Deceased, Sepultura, Possessed and other early 90s/late 90 thrash /death upstarts Godless is the definition of a grower (as were Deceased ironically). I really had to get my expectations cleared out and listen to this on its own merits, and eventually it started to click with me. Recent releases by Chapel of Disease and Skeletal Remains are sort of comparisons for the band as they do have some deeper, gruffer death metal vocals but the guitar tone and overall sound is far dustier, grainier and old school.

But there is some killer songs lurking under the old presentation and production that pulls you in and bores into any preconceived notions of what old school sounds like in today’s huge retro market and scene. With a far more thrash based riffage and pacing, don’t go looking for any sort of Swede-death homage here. These riffs are pure early Deceased, Death, Inucbus Possessed, Testament, Vio-lence, Exodus and such with a bit of a death metal gloss and the aforementioned vocals giving it just a little more menace rather than big hair and bright white hi tops sneakers.

Perfect examples are the more enjoyable, higher octane numbers like “Pest Grave” “Surrounded by the Dead”,  “Cast From Heaven”. and “Face the Enemy”. However, a couple of the tracks, notably earlier ones like “New Dawn”, and “In Harm’s Way” do take a while to make an impression with a slower, less urgent pace and delivery. The album ends with the twisty lurch of  “Death Dance” which an interesting pace and structure not heard elsewhere on the album.

It’s nice to see Deepsend go out side of their box a little, though I’m still more inclined to reach for a Dawn of Demise album, when I’m in the mood for something Danish. But if I’m wanting something more old school and not Swedish, this fits the bill as it has a little more bite than some of the pure retro thrash coming out over the last few years.

[Visit the band's website]

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