Denmark’s sludgiest and filthiest band on the planet returns with a seven-song EP and my bud David Mikkelsen – guitars/vox is once again crafting some of the heaviest and gnarliest disgusting riffs known to man.

Aldrig i livet was their last full-length released during the height of crappy COVID and was an excellent album and this ep starts with “Død”.  Oh yeah, before I go further, Undergang sings in their native Danish language, but Dave sings so damn low….if he was singing in English I doubt you’d be able to pick out the lyrics.

His vocals are more like another instrument and the song starts with a nice mid-paced gallop before a higher yelp growl and then once the song slows down Dave’s filthy and vomitrocious vocals come in and they’re still sick AF, the song picks up the speed, but that 1:15 part, the slower gallop calls to mind “Slaughterhouse” from Mortician-christ ‘o mighty, so damn heavy and Dave sounds more gurgly than ever before – this is a huge plus in my book.  There are some dual filth double-tracked vocals towards the end of the song – brootal!!!

“Mælkehvid og gennemsigtigt” is up next and try saying that song 5x in a row in a drinking contest and you’ll sure to be wasted in less than five minutes.  The song picks up the pace right off the jump with the crazy drum rolls, which repeat again and that 1-minute mark is the super Holy Shit slow down……crawls……..like…..a…lurking….snake ready to devour you.  It’s dense and the doom-death moment is ungodly.  Taking cues from classic Autopsy and Asphyx and even a little Winter-that is how slow and sludgy this moment is.  It is killer and my favorite moment on the ep.  The song picks up the pace and those dual-layered vocals come back towards the end of the song.

“Livløs i en pøl af egne udskillelser” at five minutes is the longest song on the EP…beginning slow, with the isolated guitar riff, then drums, then back to the isolated guitar then into the quicker galloping speed.  The guitars are supremely heavy and all you Rottrevore fans are foaming at the mouth, I am sure.  This galloping speed works perfectly and the rhythm section is on fire and the growls and drums right before the 2.40 moment are so killer-crank this up loud..it’s a bit chaotic but works extraordinarily well.  The song gets into a lumbering crawl with some nice scorching razor guitar solos, piped in louder in the mix to pipe your head clean off those ragtag shoulders of yours…the solos go on for along time and then gets into more noisy sounding feedback laden elements.

“Misfarvning af liget” starts so sludgy and heavy and you know this has the perfect speed to open a live show with.  A circle pit would erupt quickly at this speed and the song picks up slightly..The 49-second is kind of like an homage to early Carcass’ “Ruptured in Purulence”.  You will know it once you hear it.  The song title of “Misfarvning af liget” roughly translates to discoloration of the corpse..ha, ha, ha.  I love it.  The song is disgusting and is putrid and those early Carcass nods are terrific- not to be missed and glad to see Undergang giving an homage to one of the originators of gore/grind.

The rest of De syv stadier af fordærv is excellent and even though the EP is 21 minutes, it provides the listener with many new tunes and if the band wants to take another year or two off before releasing the next album, they have this ep as the perfect stop-gap release before the next full-length.

Also; the band, unfortunately, had to cancel their recent US tour, so hopefully they get that sorted out and return to these parts in 2024.  I imagine they will be wanting to release the album that year and their long-term partnership with the studio in California, Earhammer Studios, I would assume would continue.  Regardless, support Undergang, this is a great, filthy, disgusting and sickening array of songs!

[Visit the band's website]

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