Liste der Bands Death Metal Funeral Whore Step into Damnation

The Dutch death metal scene seems pretty active lately, with bands like pioneering death metal band Asphyx's announcement of a new release and also the rise of newer bands such as Massive Assault, with their new album. Joining the ranks of these bands is Funeral Whore, and this year sees the release of their debut full length album, Step into Damnation under Mexican label, Chaos Records.

However, right from the opening riffs of Eternal Genocide, one instantly knows that this will not be death metal in the similar veins of countrymen Asphyx, with the gritty guitar tone and the drumming style that instantly reminds listeners of death metal leaning more towards the Swedish style such as Grave and some Entombed. This is especially so with the intro drumming of El Salvador Death Squad, that bears an uncanny resemblance to that of Bloodbath's Brave New Hell. The lead guitars on the album are also contrasted against the raw and buzzing rhythm guitars through the usage of a soaring tone, and sounds like more recent death metal acts that bear the flag of the old school such as Horrendous. The slower and heavier moments on the album such as those on Wasteland of Corpses also sees the band displaying some Incantation moment, with haunting lead guitars that play a slow and deliberate melody, backed by the crusty d-beat drumming of Olle, and this is certainly a nice break from bands that choose to simply go full speed ahead with mindless blasting.

Olle's drumming are some of the personal highlights on the album, and it is nice to hear how he manages to capture the listener's attention through his simple yet catchy drumming style, and this is most evident on tracks like Obedience, where there are no particularly flashy segments, yet managing to keep the listener attracted throughout the track. Not only is the drumming simplistic on the album, the guitars also display a similar level of simplicity, through lead guitar solos that often do not see the guitarists shredding mindlessly, and instead choosing slower and more well thought-out melodies, and this certainly helps in making the music stand out from the large amounts of release in recent times. Moments such as the harmonised guitars on El Salvador Death Squad also brings in some slight Slayer influences, once again showing the wide variety of influences that have gone into the creation of Step into Damnation. The effective usage of sound samples such as those on Camp Blood and Step into Damnation manage to keep that dark and sinister atmosphere up on the album.

The large amount of different influences that the band has put in writing Step into Damnation would therefore ensure that this is one album that would instantly attract fans of any style of death metal, making this album one of the more enjoyable releases of the year so far.