Band: The Modern Age Slavery
Title: Damned To Blindness
Label: Napalm Records
Distribution: Hardlife Promotion
Release date: 01/12/2008
Review: CD

It isn’t that easy to describe what ‘Deathcore’ as musical style might be. All right, it is a certain combination of Death Metal with Hardcore elements, yet there do exist several Death Metal bands that do introduce punkish or Hardcore-vocals, for example, but this doesn’t necessarily make it a Deathcore-band. Besides, combining two different musical styles isn’t always a ‘new style’. I guess Deathcore can best be described as a symbiosis of Death Metal music with grunts and a certain Punk or Hardcore-attitude. But even this is a complete definition. I have a better idea to describe this musical style: The Modern Age Slavery. Listen to this band and you will understand what Deathcore is.
In fact, this band was formed last year by four former members of the cult Hardcore-formation Browbeat (Giovanni Berselli-v, Luca Cocconi-g, Gregorio Ferrarese-d, and Mirco Bennati-b), which was pretty popular in, especially, their home country, Italy. In December last year, ex-Gory Blister / Empyrios-member Sym Bertozzi (g) joined, and with this line-up, the band entered the studio with producer Simone Mularoni (Gory Blister, DGM). The disturbing, stunning artwork was done, by the way, by Dennis Sibeijn, who also worked for bands as Chimaira, Lamb Of God, Slayer, Killswitch Engage or Job For A Cowboy, to name a few.
During forty minutes, heaviness, aggression and brutality come with no merciful thoughts, and the tempo is as it’s needed to be: mainly fast, with a few blasting parts, yet also with some slower pieces, which are important to keep the interest awake. The mainly (especially) Death Metal-oriented tracks sound modern, yet at the same time a modest old school feeling embraces the proper and decent production. Every single uncompromising track convinces, and the musical (instrumental and vocal) influences from the band members’ roots (the Hardcore-scene) are almost un-existing. …good news for the intellectual Death-fan, stupid sh*t for the HC-worms.
Recommended for fans of: Decapitated, Stigma (the Italian one), Moker, Job For A Cowboy, Welkin and Aborted.

81/100

Ivan Tibos.