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Myrkskog - Death Machine
Myrkskog - Death Machine
Candlelight - 2000
By Patrick
“Welcome to the Human race…”
Myrkskog arrives on the scene with Death Machine, an intensely violent misanthropic debut from a band that knows what it means to be extreme. Mixing the best of Morbid Angel, Slayer, and Emperor, they have created a unique hybrid of death and black metal. The songs are fast and chaotic, but still catchy. The album was recorded at studio Akkerhaugen (Emperor, Zyklon) and definitely has a similar production to those two releases. The guitar sound is very similar to Zyklon’s (Destructhor is also in Zyklon) and the trigger sounds remind me of IX Equilibrium by Emperor. Everything in the recording is clear and well balanced. The guitars cut thru and you can make out the notes, even at their breakneck speeds. It has a futuristic sound to it which works really well for the music and fits in with artwork and the band photos, lyrics, everything.
The riffs are constantly interesting, and the drumming of Secthdamon is superb. The vocals sound slightly distorted and he ranges from screams to lower Dave Vincent style growls, though more convincing that Vincent.. The leads are very effective as well, especially the chorus drenched melodic solo in “Morphine Mangled Torture.” There are some keyboards floating behind the mix in most of the songs and they are used very effectively (i.e. the title track). They also throw in little clips that enhance the songs 10 fold, I think.
The album starts off with “Discipline Misanthropy” and lets you know right away these guys mean business. You hear the sound of a gun, a quick sample, then you are flung head on into madness. This song has a really catchy chorus that you’ll be singing a long to by the second time it comes around. The second song, “Hate Syndicate,” is another favorite and opens with fast blasting and very chaotic riffing. Each song has its own identity and they keep it fresh throughout. It’s a fairly short listen, but I think that is best for this kind of music. If there were 13 tracks it would start to drag on. They come, splatter brains and move on. The one song I don’t like is the “Pilar Deconstruction” remix at the end of the album. After 8 songs of blasting fury, they go into a dance remix type thing. I don’t understand. I’m not a big fan of remixes and I think they are unnecessary. This is metal after all…It’s good to experiment with technology, but maybe it should have been on a separate release. This seems to be pretty common in black metal these days. Oh well, my skip button works.
These Norwegians are moving to the top of the extreme metal world and they are taking no prisoners. They picked up where Emperor last left off, and took that to the utmost extreme. I think Myrkskog are leading the pack with their style of extreme metal. Many bands are starting to catch on, and I think, along with Zyklon, Behemoth, and Emperor, are changing the face of death and black metal. They know the limits and went way beyond those, refusing to be confined by genres or expectations. They are making truly uncompromising metal. Recommended for all extreme metal fans. Black metal purists stay away. This is innovative music.
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