Review of Cianide - Death, Doom And Destruction (Reissue)

Whether or not you should be interested in this record depends entirely on how you feel about a death metal album that's capable of obliterating your skull and crushing your bones into powder. If that sounds inviting, please proceed. If not, I suppose we'll meet you over by the merry-go-rounds a bit later.

Cianide, ladies and gents, is a prime example of genuine death/doomish metal with a serious emphasis on brutality. These three Silverbacks have been knuckle-walking the streets of Chicago for the better part of the last 20-years, but those two decades have essentially been spent surviving in relative obscurity. Well, under-appreciated they very well may be, but holy shit is this band an essential discovery for those interested in cavemanic, bludgeoning barbarism. And leave it to our fine friends at Razorback to justly spotlight and reissue one of the band's most genuinely callous releases, 1997's seminal Death, Doom and Destruction.

The blueprint is fairly simple: take a heaping dose of Hellhammer/early Celtic Frost and mix it into the band's perfected brand of oldschool, slowly bulldozing death metal. Fans of Bolt Thrower will find an equal in terms of remorseless, mid-paced wallopers with "Rage War", "Metal Never Bends" and "Salvation", and the doom element really snakes its way into the picture with the tar-soaked "Envy and Hatred" and the aptly titled "(We Are the) Doomed". And despite the album's blatant focus on slowly browbeating, the gorilla's prove they're unafraid to push the pedal for short bursts as well, as evidenced by the opening to "The Power to Destroy" and the entirety of "Deadly Spawn".

There's really nothing at all getting in the way of Death, Doom and Destruction completing its task at hand. Bassist Mike P.'s perfectly suited glottal vocals are often roared with an enthusiasm that sounds as if his cords are about to snap, and the band's inclusion of another guitarist on the record adds yet another swirl of fat marbling to this already bulging cut of death metal meat. To sum things up directly, this record may be a fairly simple affair, but it's simply crushing as well, and that's what makes it an essential purchase for those interested in death metal that's brutal, gruff and completely uncivilized.

Heads will bang; heads will explode.

Release Details

Cianide

Death, Doom And Destruction (Reissue)

Comments

Related