Remember the old days of buying an album based off the cover art or band name alone? That’s exactly how I approached the latest album from Slaughterday. Any band that’s named after an Autopsy song HAS to be somewhat good by default. The question is, does the album live up to its title: Ancient Death Triumph?
Right off the bat, there’s similarities to Autopsy, but they’re merely just similarities. I wouldn’t go as far as calling them a worship band. I say this because for as much Autopsy as I hear on the unrelenting opening title track, I also hear touches of Asphyx and Morbid Angel. Much like future death metal gods Cemetery Filth and Molder, Slaughterday takes the best elements of yesteryear. They then reinvent those elements just enough to carve their own identity, but without straying from the genre’s core purpose.
As Ancient Death Triumph goes on, we’re battered by the thrashing insanity of “Spawn of the Incubus” and “Apocalyptic Dreams”. The riffs are crushing and the solos are melodic, yet lethal. Musically, these cuts have more in common with Slayer and Kreator than your typical old school death metal band, but that’s no complaint. Besides, Slayer and Kreator gave way to the entire genre.
When they aren’t thrashing it up, Slaughterday plays a nasty, punkish death metal which sounds like a cross between Benediction and the early 90s Swedish scene. Take “Impenitent Agony” and “Malformed Assimilation” for example. These midtempo skull stompers have enough d-beats to convert even the most ardent crust punks. Now throw in a healthy serving of meat and potatoes Cianide doom (“Expulsed from Decay”) and an unexpected Anvil cover which eclipses the original (“Thumb Hang”) and you’ve truly got an Ancient Death Triumph.
Slaughterday isn’t reinventing the wheel, but their unique take on death metal is refreshing in a day and age of copy/paste clones. What’s most surprising is the band itself is just two guys: Jens Finger on guitars and bass and Bernd Reiners on drums and vocals. For two guys to create a sound so full and overwhelming is an achievement in and of itself. The sickening slabs of death that are the songs are just a bonus.
7 out of 10
Label: F.D.A. Records
Genre: Death Metal
For fans of: Autopsy, Benediction, Cardiac Arrest