Swampbeast is here to steal your tree fiddy (after all, you gave tree fiddy to the Loch Ness Monster, so they know you have plenty more where that came from) and to pummel you. Their debut is called Seven Evils Spawned of Seven Heads and it doesn’t waste much time getting started.

The first track on this deathy sumbitch is “Orcs Anvil.” No intro, no frills, just a little over 2 minutes of cavernous death metal. Deep vocals? Check. Blast beats? Check? Muddy, yet audible production? Yep, check.

Track 6, “The Permanence of Death” begins with a heavy riff on par with the new Asphyx reviewed on this site previously. That riff ends a little less than a minute in, then the tempo picks up into another infinitely headbangable riff. While nothing on this track is what one would call “fast” when it comes to metal, the pace is definitely a bit quicker for the duration and they don’t mess with it too much.

Maybe it’s because I really dig that new Asphyx record mentioned above, but I am hearing a lot of influence from them in Swampbeast. The following track, “Thy Flesh Sustained” doesn’t deviate far from that formula. However, with about a minute-and-a-half left, it does into a plodding, heavier section where the drums keep their distance and let the vocals and guitar carry the track. Not for long, though, as the vocals go away until the track abruptly ends.

As you may noticed, Swampbeast doesn’t let off the throttle much. The combination of track 10, “Chasms Encrusted with Malformity,” which is essentially an interlude/intro to the final track and the final track itself, “Spell of Decay” are those rare times when they do. If there’s any experimentation on the album, it’s in the final track. It begins with a subdued guitar melody before the main riff kicks in. This is still a crushing track with the same sort of downtempo riffing as the rest of the album. However, with exactly a minute left, the guitar takes over with the most bad ass lead on the entire album screaming out of the speakers over another doomy riff.

Well, friends, there’s good news and bad news. The good news is that this will get your head moving. The bad news is that you’ve heard it all before, and better. If there’s more good news, at 36 minutes, the album doesn’t overstay its welcome. Well-executed, competently played death metal doesn’t go out of style. So, while I don’t see myself returning to it much this year, if this is your jam, you could do worse. I would like to see them branch out a little bit more next time, but this is a good start.

[Visit the band's website]

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