### Strychnos: Undead unsouls unbound

#### 20/04/11 || Khlysty

As I perused the GD staff section candidly named “SOMEONE REVIEW THIS A.S.A.P.”, my eyes fell on the description of Strychnos: “Sadistic hate metal from Denmark”. Wow! Even though I couldn’t really picture to myself how can metal be “sadistic”, my interest was piqued enough to make me take up the chore of reviewing this MCD. I mean, hell, “Sadistic hate metal from Denmark” sounded like a job cut for Khlystermeister, right?

Alas, Strychnos is neither sadistic, nor hate metal. What these guys are, is pretty straightforward death-inflected thrash metal, with brootal vocals and “creepy” samples interspersed here and there within the five tracks. O, the disappointment!!!

Actually, the music here, for what it is, is not bad. The riffs are well defined and melodic, the band is tight and this whole affair, even though less aggro than it purports to be, is quite enjoyable. What I find most offensive about Strychnos, though, is the fact that a) most of the time seem to just go for a heavier take on “American modern metal”, which is pretty lame (hasn’t this type of music already exhausted itself years ago?) and b) use a VERY clean and compressed “modern” production (I guess it goes in tandem with the style of music…), totally bereft of any “grunge” or “filth” that might have rendered the songs –and the band- more memorable.

Otherwise, “Undead Unsouls Unbound” is nothing really important; it’s just totally middle-of-the-road metal, that might be mildly enjoyable while it lasts and be completely forgotten after it ends. Of course, if someone’s looking for “Sadistic hate metal”, one must look elsewhere…

- Information
- Released: 2011
- Label: FDA Rekotz
- Website: Strychnos MySpace
- Band
- MLA: vocals, bass
- JH: guitar
- JFP: guitar
- NL: drums

- Tracklist
- 01. B.A.T.H.O.R.I.
- 02. Beastial desires
- 03. Black banners
- 04. Undead unsouls unbound
- 05. Strychgnostic madness