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Corpsessed: The dagger & the chalice
08/11/11 || Suffolation
Swedeath versus Finndeath. It’s an age old battle of epic proportions. The Swedish variant of death metal is more melodic, more popular, and has that traditional buzzsaw sound that’s practically fucking trademarked (and good filler in every review). Bands like Entombed, Dismember, and Grave pioneered the style, which gradually became a virtually a new classification of death metal; many bands from other countries play “Swedish death metal” despite coming from like, fucking Czech Republic, ie Morbider. On the other hand, the lesser known bands from Finland are what tickled my pickle, being slower, more interesting sounding, and just flat out creepier. Bands like Funebre, Demigod, and Rippikoulu all give me a hefty three quarter chub. So when I heard about Corpsessed’s new EP “The dagger and the Chalice,” I immediately put down the lube and the hacksaw and tuned in for a listen. And boy was that a good move.
Corpsessed is a 5-piece Finnish death metal band (they only had four members on this release though) formed in 2007 and so far has only released this 23 minute, six track EP. They have members of cult classic bands Wormplegm and Murderaim filling out their ranks. Their influences include but are certainly not limited to Entombed, Deicide, Grave, Incantation, and Immolation, among many others I’m sure. I hear traces of Slugathor and Demigod in some of the riffs as well. They take the classic Finnish, doomish sound and combine it with the Incantation worship that is so prevalent today in the works of bands like Vasaeleth and Ignivomous. It’s a brilliant pairing that makes for an amazing sound.
The cover art is a black, gray and white piece with a dagger and some other scary shit, so you should know exactly what this is gonna be. And the fact that it was released on Dark Descent doesn’t take Nancy cocksucking Drew to figure out that this is old school death metal. The production is downright unholy. It sounds like they ripped open a gigantic demon’s asshole, recorded it in there, and left said asshole charred and ravaged by the sheer force of blasphemy and badassery. It’s retro sounding in the tone of everything, where everything is cavernous and massive sounding, but also has a modern touch because everything is brilliantly mixed and all instruments can be heard.
The guitars are like most everything on Taco Bell’s menu: massive and crunchy. The generally stick to the mid-paced power chorded riffs, you know the kind. Palm-muted, groovy, headbangable. The riffs are all very well constructed and have an ominous, dark feeling driving them. Often, they’ll throw in a very slow section akin to Incantation, and the intro track is bordering on funeral doom in its tempo. When they do decide to speed up, they perform Demigod-esque tremolo picked riffs impeccably, which adds much to the atmosphere. The leads are entirely minor scales over the riffs simply to add the eeriness. Solos are nonexistent, but I feel as if they would only get in the way, so maybe that’s a good thing. The bass follows neatly under the guitar, doing nothing terribly impressive, just adding to the deeper than fuck low end this album utilizes so well.
The vocals are deep without being slammishly guttural, much like the early 90’s Finnish bands. Powerful, deep roars that magnificently convey the feeling of being buried and/or consumed are the norm here.
The drums are mixed well enough to be heard, but never overwhelm the guitars thankfully. The bass drum sound is bassy and yet high enough to power through the mix. The drummer rarely blasts, mainly opting for double bass driven beats and an occasional skank blast. But when he does blast, it’s done tightly and certainly not overly fast. His style is tasteful and well executed. His fills are managed well, and cymbal use is variable, not just jacking off on the high-hat the whole time.
All in all, this is a very well done debut, and I hope and pray that this is simply a preview of what Corpsessed can do. They have so much potential and I absolutely can’t wait for them to put out new material… even though this is only a few months old. Get this if you are into early 90s Finndeath or any of the new wave of old school death metal.
- Information
- Released: 2007
- Label: Dark Descent
- Website: Corpsessed MySpace
- Band
- Niko Matilainen: vocals
- Jyri Lustig: guitars, backing vocals
- Matti Mäkelä: guitar, bass, backing vocals
- Jussi-Pekka Manner: drums, backing vocals
- Tracklist
- 01. Introduction
- 02. Crypt Infester
- 03. Nameless Cult
- 04. Altar of Worms
- 05. Massgrave
- 06. The Dagger & the Chalice
