Zombiefication
Reaper's Consecration
Reviewed By Simon Milburn
Published 07 August, 2012
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Swedeath from anywhere but Scandinavia!
I don’t mind me a bit of Swedeath. I’ve said it quite a number of times on the pages of this fine website. I’m a vocal fan of early Swedish death metal such as Entombed, Grave, Unleashed and Dismember – the stuff that makes up the blueprint for the genre that we know and love. So I’m always keen to hear more. But I don’t think I’ve quite ever been this surprised by a band. Now, the surprise is not what I hear but more the band themselves. Zombiefication are from Mexico. So we have a Mexican death metal delivering Swedish death metal, and to be honest, they do a pretty reasonable job of it as well.
The group’s sound captured on their latest five track EP is unequivocally that of Clandestine era Entombed and Like An Ever Flowing Stream era Dismember. If I had to call it one way or the other, I’d say it’s skewed ever so slightly towards the former of the two but you can’t go wrong either way. Their sound and song writing is a little more refined this time around so it’s possible that these guys are moving in the right direction this time as their previous material that I’ve heard didn’t come across as quite as focussed.
It’s interesting to note then that the five tracks on offer average well over five minutes each in running time. But throughout each of the tracks Zombiefication balance pace, tempo changes, groove and general guttural heaviness rather well. There’s no real movement outside of the Swedeath box that they have clearly placed themselves in but what they do, they do well enough. Any one of Dead Today, Dust Tomorrow or Death Rides or I Am The Reaper could feature on an Entombed or Dismember release from back in the day.
You could argue that Zombiefication aren’t really doing anything other than ripping off the bands that defined a genre. You could also argue that imitation is the highest form of flattery, too. Either way, this five tracker clearly defines what Zombiefication 2012 are all about and it’s a more focussed effort than before. These guys are on the right track and anyone who’s a keen fan of Swedeath would do well to give these guys a chance. Promising stuff indeed even if it there is a strong air of familiarity to it.
Pulverised Records
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