### Slain: Before the inferno

#### 18/03/14 || cadenz

Let’s start with the most important detail: this album features a song called “Deadly Midget”. Think about that for a second. Deadly. Midget. A midget that is deadly. One starts to wonder in which fashion it is deadly, is it deadly to eat? Will it gnaw at my kneecaps and infest me with a deadly virus? Will it stare with its midgety eyes into the very depths of my soul and wither away all my will to live? Or will it just plain stab me with an under-sized knife in my groin, and watch me bleed out? This is a mystery almost worth a further inquiry into the matter. Stay tuned for midget news of the deadly kind.

So, what is Slain? Did they get killed by the deadly midget? Hahaha, hahaha, haha. Fuck you. Slain is a death metal band from Poland. Instant band associations pop up (Vader, Behemoth, Lost Soul, Decapitated, Azarath etc) as well as the fact that the average quality of Polish death metal bands is quite high. No easy feat to match for a band that’s been around since 2005 and just last December, eight years later, released their debut album. They do, however, pass the exam even though they don’t excel at much.

“Before the Inferno” is pretty old-school with many, if not most, riffs getting their energy from sucking the teats of 80’s thrash metal. Down-tuned instruments and gurgly growls together with aggressive drumming and many tempo shifts bring the rotten stench of death to the stew. The no-frills mentality, lacking technical complexity and dramatic arrangements, makes Vader the closest in sound of Slain’s Polish brethren, but I would also give a few nods in a Western direction, towards Netherlands, UK, and the US of A. Fans of early Sinister and Malevolent Creation, Asphyx, Bolt Thrower, Obituary etc will probably find this a good listen.

After a while the chromatic and primitive riffs start to get on my nerves, and I crave for some more melodic material, or at least a few more riffs in a key other than D. There are some nice guitar solos that break up the monotony, and some riffs (especially on “Deadly Midget”, believe it or not) are very catchy and rhythmically creative, and I would have liked to hear more of this kind of variety. There are plenty of contrasts in tempos and drum patterns, but the riffs are too often just a little too meat-and-potatoes to keep up my interest.

“Before the Inferno” is a cool death metal record with a good production and a sound that hearkens back a couple of decades. If you like your soup of death without too much flair, go for Slain. Or the midget will kill you.

- Information
- Released: 2013
- Label: The End of Time Records
- Website: Slain Facebook
- Band
- Marcin: vocals
- Paul: guitars
- George: guitars
- Lucas: bass
- Wojtass: drums

- Tracklist
- 01. Confession of the Blind Messiah
- 02. Wings of War
- 03. Malleus Maleficarum
- 04. War Is Coming
- 05. Fucking Gods
- 06. Deadly Midget
- 07. Thorn
- 08. Omen