
Pestilential Decay
(Crawling Chaos Productions)
16:20min
I am a firm believer that there is something going on with the water in the land down under. A lot of the Australian bands I’ve heard since the late 80s share one thing: they are absolutely awesome. And when you thought they could not come up with yet another one, CONTAMINATED’s debut demo "Pestilential Decay" hits the underground, courtesy of Crawling Chaos Productions. L.M., who is also a member of TERROR STRIKE and TRANSCENDING DIVINITY, composed the songs, recorded all the instruments and was also in charge of the mixing. With surprisingly good results music wise. These 4 songs, clocking at 16 minutes, are plain worship to the brutally heavy Death Metal of the early 90s. Bands like (early) INCANTATION, ABHORRENCE and RIPPIKOULU, just to name a few, paved the way for this kind of music. Also, there are hints of classic Australian bands such as NECROTOMY and ABRAMELIN. But L.M. has condensed all these influences into a great release that, mostly, reeks of honesty. Production wise, the sound is raw. A little too much for my taste. I can barely hear the bass guitar and the drums are pushed back with the vocals and the guitars too present in the mix. On a better note, this actually helps the overall atmosphere. Somehow, the pounding guitar / bass riffs, the deep growls and the fast, almost blast beat like parts, tend to keep everything balanced and in place. I really felt like I was listening to a 1990 – 1991 demo tape. if you consider that bad and / or good, well, it’s your choice. Me? I can recommend CONTAMINATED to any respected Death Metal fan out there. This is one I will be following closely. Looking forward to more material, L.M.! More info: www.pestilentialdecay.bandcamp.com, www.facebook.com/pestilentialdecay, www.crawlingchaosproductions.com, www.facebook.com/crawlingchaosproductions
Alfonso Perez