Liste der Bands Death Metal Zombiefication Midnight Stench

Midnight Stench is the debut full length release of Zombiefication, after a demo released in 2009. Mexican metal has recently caught my attention, first with the introduction of the Mexican lineup in Singapore's Impiety, leading me to discover bands such as Hacavitz and Warfield, each with their unique flavor.

Zombiefication though, in this instance displays prominently the band's influences from Swedish death metal. From the opening track The Shining onwards, the crushing guitar tone instantly brings Swedish death metal acts such as Interment to mind. As the band begins their onslaught proper with Cryptic Broadcast, the vocalist calls on and informs the listeners that it's "time to kill". A tad awkward there with the slight accent, yet it builds up the climax for the song suitably, before breaking out once more with "come on suckers!" The vocalist constantly alternates between half-shouts and growls, with the shouted parts seemingly displaying Zombiefication's thrash metal influences.

The lead guitar lines such as on Cryptic Broadcast add a sense of anxiousness for the listener, ensuring that he is always kept on edge and ready for the next round of aural assault. On songs such as Jacko's Funeral Pyre, the heavy reverb effect near the beginning of the track on the lead guitar makes the listener feel instantly as if he were listening to this record in an empty morgue, further bringing out the morbid atmosphere of Zombiefication's music. The final moments of the track once again brings out the atmosphere with a haunting effect, as if one were in an empty chapel. Guitar solos on songs such as Last Resting Place while do not emphasize on the speed, are technical and with unique flavour, adding a nice touch to the song. The band also displays their melodic side with the similarly simple lead guitar work on Necrombulatory. The chugging riffs is backed by the intense drumming, punishing the skins relentlessly. Where there is a lack of speed in the music, the band ensures that it is made up by the raw aggression and energy, such as on the second half of Anthem to the Deathmarch.

Sleepless Mutter could very well be the slowest track on the record, with a pseudo-howl styled vocal accompanying the slow and depressive guitar line that slowly breaks into a heavy chugging section, almost bringing depressive rock/metal band Katatonia's earlier works to mind. The shift to a shouting vocals after the halfway point of the song further brings out the agony in the music. However on the same song the guitarists start to get a bit confused, with the lead guitar being slightly awkward and almost out of pace with the rest of the instruments, but the band quickly recovers and goes back on track once more.

While the CD version was released in 2010 under the now defunct Asphyxiate Recordings, this is certainly a fine display of the quality of metal acts now coming out of Mexico.