Friday 11 January 2013

Miasmal - Miasmal

MIASMAL - Miasmal (DETEST Records - LP 2011)
I wonder if Miasmal will ever call their new release different than “Miasmal”? They already have the selftitled demo, EP and now they also called their debut album like that! Not very smart, if you ask me, because surely it will cause some problems and confusion, like “hey, I wanna buy “Miasmal”… yeah, but which one???”. Fuck that, I already have the demo on vinyl in my collection and when the debut full length was released back in 2011 by the great Detest Records (ROT IN FILTH!!!!!!!) I also quickly purchased a copy of this black tar. Such releases are just necessary to have and I definitely do not regret spending some money on it, as I’m happy to announce that Miasmal kept the quality from their demo also on their first album. Sure, some will probably moan that Miasmal is not bringing anything new or special to the genre and really they’re not different to some other Swedish bands, but who would give a fuckin’ fuck about such opinions, as they don’t matter if the music is as good as the one on “Miasmal” LP? If you don’t like it, then please jump into that fuckin black hole on the front cover of the album and kill yourself.
I did enjoy “Miasmal” (both demo and the LP actually) a lot. I mean this is one of those albums, which will stick with you without any problems, right from the first listen and it doesn’t require vaseline or soap to get to your ass and seriously fuck and kick it hard. Having in my mind what bands like Death Breath, Maim or Bastard Priest did before I can honestly say that Miasmal is equally killer and easily fits the same category of bands. And when I listen to “Miasmal” I have a feeling like those bands actually managed to create something different… sure, their music is based on the good, old Swedish death metal scene with bands like Entombed, Nihilist, Carnage and Dismember, but when I hear “Miasmal” I feel like there’s something more to it than just a brainless copy of “Left Hand Path”. The songwriting is excellent, obviously, but Miasmal used so much D-beat that sometimes it may appear like crust punk / hardcore has influenced the band just as much as the death metal sound. And listen to the guitar leads on this album! I mean they’re nowhere like the melodic playing from “Like an Ever Flowing Stream”! They almost have sort of rock’n’roll / punky feeling. Of corpse the whole stuff has been played in the death metal way, don’t get me wrong; it is obscure, morbid and filthy, old school death metal, but it doesn’t limit the influence just to the certain one or two bands. Here Wolfpack is equally important as Entombed!
It’s impossible to find really any mistakes or anything wrong about “Miasmal”. The songwriting is excellent, I like the way Miasmal structured their songs and how they add some extras into them, like more melodic leads (yeah, those also appear) in songs like the excellent “Blissful Cannonades”. And “Mists” will remind you that all in all Miasmal is a Swedish death metal band – I totally love the beginning of this song; a short acoustic theme, then the melodic riff alike the good old Entombed… Well, I’m in hell! This is also why “Mists” is my favorite song from the whole LP. And in the final part of the last song, “Chronicles”, they even dared to use some keyboards as the background fill up for the killer doomy riff. Love it! But really, as I already written, there’s no bad song on the album and I devoured the whole LP easily. Definitely this stuff belongs to the best albums, which have been released during this old school death metal plague, which has been infecting us since a couple of years. Live to rot!
Standout tracks: “Mesmerized”, “Blissful Cannonades”, “Mists”

Final rate: 83/100

 

1 comment: