Italy’s Kaivs released the Horrend ep last year and all those songs have been re-recorded for their debut album – After the Flesh.  The Dan Seagrave type of striking artwork drew me into this album.  The color hues of yellow, purple, blue and red really is eye-catching.  It’s all fun and games with cool album covers but does the music match the artwork?  The answer is yes, in fact this is a really good debut death metal album.

“Koshercannibal” begins with a slight intro that goes right into the mid-paced death metal, and one that has strong early European/Swedish leanings.  The song picks up the galloping pace with strong throaty vocals, sounding eerily similar to Masse Broberg from the early and best Hypocrisy releases.  And yes the mid-paced rumblings with the galloping snare sounds even similar to something that you would find on Penetralia or Osculum Obscenum.  The guitar tone even having a Hypocrisy vibe.  Strong album opener.

“Beyond the Autopsy” at over six minutes is the longest song here with vocalist Max Foam letting out some cool opening growls and then the 90’s galloping death metal speed gets into full gear and the mix and production is pretty powerful, not overly triggered produced type, this album has an organic by powerful mix to it.  The snare drum really cuts through on this album and this song is truly headbang worthy.  The Swedish buzzsaw sound at the 3.20 mark is killer – really heavy, beatdown worthy.  Tiziano Mortician knows how to write catchy and heavy guitar riffs, let me tell you!  Leonardo Sastro’s drum sound is chest collapsing.  Would love to see this band live, as this drum sound and some of his fills are really cool.  Jacopo Simonelli provides the undercurrent of bass heaviness.  Yet another strong song.

“Blooduniverses” gets things going right from the beginning with a very cool blast beat, sounding like it was played in 1991. There is an air of primitiveness to it, making this moment raw and aggressive.  The tune settles into a killer mid-paced groove with those Hypocrisy tinged guitars slicing and dicing you into smithereens.  Excellent slower moment around the ninety second mark, that gets back into the mid-paced shredding.  The bass guitar volume is increased a bit towards the end and it has a great sound that reminds me of the bass guitar sound on Autopsy’s Severed Survival masterpiece.  That wall of bass!  It’s so dense, like a thick fog that pounds you over the head from every direction.

After the Flesh is an impressive debut album from Kaivs.  As I stated earlier this has a strong early Hypocrisy sound and style to it.  Heavy and memorable with a great production.  I am really digging the mix on this release.  No instrument or the vocals overtake the other.  You can clearly make out what is going on.  The band uses a variety of tempos and check out that bass returning and some doomy elements on “Blasphemer After the Flesh”, which is another terrific song.  I am truly looking forward to the development and next recording from Kaivs.  Damn good!

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