MALEVOLENT CREATION

There is almost nothing more pleasant for a longtime connoisseur of deadly musical forms than knowing that the old monsters are alive, well, and creatively active. These hot Florida peppers have been at it for exactly twenty years, and for exactly twenty years they've been delighting listeners with uncompromising death metal in the finest traditions of the Florida school. Some have begun to detect certain thrash undertones in their later work, and yes, perhaps so. The slightly raspy growling and, perhaps, a somewhat greater tendency toward straightforward musical passages than before -- some call this a thrash influence, but I prefer to call it "old school." Classic old school death metal. Think, for example, of Dew-Scented, who work in a similar vein and are also frequently tagged with thrash prefixes. This album obviously won't revolutionize the genre -- just like the overwhelmingly vast majority of everything released under the death metal banner these days -- but for the listener who is thoroughly tired of all sorts of modern offshoots and surprising style combinations, for the listener who still remembers what death metal was at the turn of the '80s and '90s, who believes in the purity and sincerity of severe musical emotions, for that listener the new work by these American grand masters of the style will undoubtedly be a balm for the soul. I hope the next dose of balm won't keep us waiting too long...