Gorefest

La Muerte (Nuclear Blast)
by Martin Popoff

Dutch thinking man’s extremists Gorefest have been coaxed back out of retirement, partly by a reissue campaign, partly because of the damned and damnable creativity still flowing from this band’s death-addled brains. La Muerte marks a grand return of the Mk. II lineup, and fans of the more mid-tempo “classic rock” (ha ha) Gorefest albums immediately pre-breakup will be pleased, the band turning in walloping crunch rockers that hearken back to Sunlight Studios’ golden era. So yes, this sounds like boozy Entombed, with a few differences; The professional and proggy musical flourishes within the fills and transitions (the drumming is at Soilwork’s level), the super-clear yet still mercilessly hard recording values, and most splendidly, the all-encompassing roar of authority welling up outta one Jan-Chris de Koeijer. Still, this is a heavy, purely metallic, dark Gorefest album. One won’t be reminded of the abuse the band took for Soul Survivor and Chapter 13. La Muerte is as instantly enjoyable as an Unleashed record, its melody of a grimly old school Swedish variety. And still, for those looking for the substantial, lyrics are a cut above, guitar solos emerge, and, like I say, breaks are percussive, moderately complex. There’s more than enough going on within this “circle the wagons” sort of record.
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