Carved straight from the crypts of Mexico’s underground Demonic Manifestation unleash chainsawing Swedeath fury after a six year silence.
DEMONIC MANIFESTATION
Mexico’s Demonic Manifestation is comprised of members that are involved in at least a dozen current or former bands. Formed in 2012 the band has released two albums, two demos and a split up to 2020 but since then have been on the backburner, which is a pity because the band’s last album, Necrokult, was a fine demonstration in buzzsaw death metal. Six years later and Grimshrine continues that approach clearly influenced by Swedish death metal, or Swedeath if you prefer, with chainsawing guitar work, cavernous vocals and an unapologetic worshipping of old school death metal.
GRIMSHRINE
If you wind back to the mid-80s when extreme metal was in its embryonic years, Central and South America was spawning some of the most primitive, violent and gratifying assaults on your senses and that ethos still bleeds through to this day. Grimshrine is the epitome of old school death metal refusing any form of frills, gimmickry and intros-just undiluted sonic savagery from the off.
Opener Cult Of Dominion strikes with a tense build before dropping into resolute devastation. There are obvious similarities to Swedeath as it also delves murky filth of the Finnish scene. A faint creepiness edges into the riffing too, subtle but effective, as the way the opener switches tempos and riffs is vicious, fluid and staggering.
NINTH FLAME OATH
With merciless intent Ninth Flame Oath offers cataclysmic speeds slipping into war metal ferocity that dissipates into thundering double bass and cavernous vocals. Its punishing violence radiates an end of the world aura sharpened by tuneful extended lead breaks. As the opening doublet ends it switches into shorter assaults with Kuru The Laughing Death March offering no respite, pulverising the listener with a crushing rhythm section right before the change to a slower warped riff crawl. Again, the lead work is fabulous, similar to Dismember in terms of accessibility and melody, as the song smashes into its blast beat finale.
THE HORROR
The Horror shows how effectively the band builds atmosphere, its slow crushing doom-death rise has similarities to Dismembered by Dismember. The track seeps in with insidious and mesmerising dread before the riff change lands with damaging force. Terror Cosmic Gates has similar atmospherics, slow pounding drum work and inhuman vocals contributing to the ratcheting pressure as the song accelerates. Before the closer The Evil Lurks, an impenetrable wall of dread is experienced with Phantasma, deluging the listener with drum work, worming guitar work and constant menace replete with speed bursts. The Evil Lurks itself is probably the most straightforward song on the album launching without ceremony and reeking of old school Swedeath.
This is death metal as it was meant to be—primitive, violent, and utterly unconcerned with evolution.
Demonic Manifestation: Bandcamp
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