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Baphomet: The dead shall inherit

29/09/09 || Habakuk

Groove, basic, death, metal, USA. These five words probably evoke two names in your head (if not, I will now), namely Six Feet Under and Obituary. Word-jugglers Baphomet probably don’t come to mind, but they also combine the opening words into groovy, basic death metal from the USA. Surprisingly enough, they don’t sound like the two other bands very much – although they too strip their death metal down, not exactly overwhelming the listener with millions of notes, rhythm changes and turns, but following a steady, chugging pace towards grooveapocalypse.

Important: Their sound might be stripped down, but I wouldn’t call it simplistic. It’s far from lackluster, as the somewhat slowish speed and clean production actually allow for quite a few nice little details and cool riff-bits to shine. Maybe it’s their New York origins, maybe it’s the couple of blast beats strewn throughout the whole thing, maybe it’s the “different” kind of groove Baphomet employ (namely one that doesn’t rely on Allen West writing one riff that lasts for an entire song), but this is not even close to being an SFU or Obituary rip-off. There’s loads of good riffs on this disc, and the number of riffs per song alone sets these guys apart. Drums and guitars form cool rhythm patterns sometimes broken up by short “bass-only” parts. In classic fashion, these are more or less the only parts where you can hear the bass.

The vocals are solid, guttural grunts, but in the end rather standard, which actually makes for a nice change from the two aforementioned bands, too. Obviously, this album might come across as rather formulaic now, but since I like the formula, I couldn’t care less. If you absolutely need a band to compare it to on an overall level, I’d probably say Broken Hope. Which is not exactly the most well-known outfit, I guess, so just pretend you didn’t read that if you’re not familiar with them. No big deal, really.

“The dead shall inherit” has no lead guitars. At all. Which is great, because I don’t see the need for them in this kind of music, but enjoy a bunch of riffs on their own from time to time. A-ha, now there’s a little complaint: Sometimes, this actually sounds like a bunch of riffs rather than songs, as the guys don’t always manage to connect their different ideas properly. Not a big issue, but if you prefer looking at “the big picture” over the micro-approach that enables one to listen to good riff after good riff, this might not be for you. However, as my brain is two-dimensional and comprised of Tetris blocks, I can enjoy this in complete disregard of a few glitches in songwriting. By the way, here’s a fun little task for you: Imagine your last trip to the supermarket in 2D.

My first exposure to this disc actually was one of the unsuspecting kind, as it took me some time to find out that Dying Fetus’ “Streaks of blood” was in fact Baphomet’s “Streaks of blood”. It is a good song, so I went and bought the 2006 re-release of “The dead shall inherit” somewhere and don’t regret it. So, if old school, straightforward, rudimentary, mid-paced death metal rocks your boat, stop listening to Dying Fetus already and go for the real deal. Otherwise, prepare to die.

Information
Released: 1992
Label: Peaceville
Website: Baphomet at Metal Archives
Band
Tom Frost: vocals
Dave Craiglow: guitars
Gary Schipani: bass
Rick Breier: drums

Tracklist
01. The suffering
02. Through deviant eyes
03. Leave the flesh
04. Valley of the dead
05. Torn soul
06. Vile reminiscence
07. Boiled in blood
08. The age of plague
09. Infection of death
10. Streaks of blood

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