Band : Battalion
Album title : Promo 2010
Label : Own release
Distributor : /
Release date : 2010
Release : CD-R demo

Ach...the advantages of having an editor-in-chief who's also active in a record label! On a regular basis he gets sent demos by bands hopeful to sign with a major label (usually as a logical step towards becoming professional musicians), and this occasionally enables us, his reviewers, to listen to new music well before anyone else can. I'm afraid that this Antwerp based quintet may have contacted the wrong label, though.

You see, Battalion is an Oldskool Death Metal act, and they've been around since 2001 (releasing their first promo disc soon after), originally inspired by such '80s and '90s pillars in the genre as Bolt Thrower, Autopsy, Grave, and Death, or as their bio mentions, combining “...Terrorizer's bombarding style with Carcass' complex songwriting and the no-holds-barred approach of Misery Index...”. Following the positive response to their debut demo, the guys (then still a quartet, of which only singer Ruben Luts and guitarist Pieter Van de Putte – the latter also active with Suhrim – remain) start playing gigs all over the country, and in 2003 release their 6-track album Nuclear Devastation. Reactions to that release see the band play supports to the likes of Avulsed, Legion Of The Damned, In-Quest, and Suhrim. The band then records their debut full-length Winter Campaign at Zulte's CCR Studios.

In 2006 the band not only inks a deal with the resurrected Shiver Records, but also sees the entry of new bassist Kristof Hectors. For their label debut the guys record two new tracks, add 'em to those of their 2004 recordings, and release 'em under the same title. Live promotion of this album includes a performance at the Benelux' biggest Metal event: Graspop Metal Meeting. In May 2007 the guys record 2 promotional songs (which will end up on their sophomore album) and parts ways with their original drummer, whom is replaced by Erre Schellekens. With the new skinsman in place the band records (again at CCR Studios) the rest of their sophomore album Welcome To the Warzone (in spite of the album title the band expands its lyrical field of interest to medical horrors, religious oppression, and gang riots), which is released in April 2008, again by Shiver Records (review by colleague Ivan posted 18/05/2008). In order to promote the album (which had a slightly different sound than before through the addition of a certain degree of Heavy Thrash) appropriately, the band is then booked onto the same bills as Grave, Asphyx, Amon Amarth, a FYU festival (the event also had Polish Death Metalists Vader on the bill) appearance, shows with Aborted and Vital Remains, and several shows in Germany, where the band defends its reason for existence gloriously!

Somewhere along the line second guitarist Igor Duerloo is added to the line-up to give the band even more dynamics, allowing the band to throw in dual guitar passages and solo parts into their live set. In early 2010 the band again records a couple of promotional songs (2 of which, namely “Beneath The Living, Beyond The Dead” and “Burning Of Olympus”, we now have on our platter), but after that the rest of the band comes to the conclusion that their new material needs a different kind of drummer. Kevin De Leener (of Emeth, and formerly of Suhrim, Gorath, Fleshmould, end more) steps in as replacement for some Summer gigs and the interaction with the other guys being mostly pleasurable, he's subsequently enlisted into the band's line-up.

Now in order to be able to compare stuff a bit, I've been listening to older material by the band, as posted at myspace.com/battalionsquadcamp, and I must say the promo versions of the songs they sent out lack a finishing touch which might've been persuaded a (major) label manager about the capacities of these guys. Belgian major labels don't believe too much in investing in their own country's Death Metal acts, so you better come up with a perfect product in order to convince in any way! Other than that, I personally think the two songs sound nice enough. In spite of the added Thrash influences, the overall sound still cannot be dubbed Death Thrash, as it's Death Metal in the first place. Of course, the face of a band is always in some ways its frontman, and with his typical growl Luts certainly deserves the surname of “Thräshbastard”. Then there's the nice additions of the solo parts, which are certainly one step up the ladder from the songs I've heard. Still, when push comes to shove, perhaps the guys had better tried their luck with more specialized labels such as Nuclear Blast or Century Media...both labels from outside our country's borders, but perhaps the band's best chance at a step up the music corporate ladder? Besides, I think they might even have a better understanding of the band's musical choice of expression!

87/100

Tony.