Lista de Bandas Death Metal Prima-Nocte Trapped Soul Trophy

Since 1987 Death Metal has evolved into many subgenres. I won’t get into the many meanders of them but one would have to agree that besides the resurrection of “old-school”
Death Metal, two major schools prevail nowadays. One is Brutal Death Metal and the other is Melodic Death Metal.

Most aficionados of Brutal Death Metal usually look down on Melodeath saying that it’s too diluted and too nice to be even labeled Death Metal while the others see just too much brutality and technical wankery in BDM. I’m not here to say which ones got their stuff right and which ones do not. Nonetheless, the status quo has grown sour over the years and the gap seems to widen even more each and every year. Though both Hate Eternal, for instance, and Amon Amarth may be considered Death Metal by anybody outside the genre's sphere, both bands are incredibly far away from each other.

So what happens when you mix musicians that enjoy both brutality and melody? Just like CERN scientists trying to collide particles out there in Switzerland, some guys from the Netherlands did just that in their latest offering and as weird as it may sound, Prima-Nocte delivers Melodic Brutal Death Metal. Yes, you read that very well.

When the request for reviewing their latest self-produced EP came out, I checked the band’s pedigree and was already enthusiastic to see that Prima-Nocte’s bass player was none other than Scrotum’s own bass player. I had the chance to review Scrotum’s Osculum Scrotum earlier on and found it quite to my taste, old school brutal Death Metal. I didn’t need anything more to subscribe to this.

Part of this Scrotum thing makes me think that the addition of Peter Dekker really brings out this brutal sound a la early Cannibal Corpse and somehow they found the right mix for everyone to happily play their part in this maelstrom. The melody that is often found both in riffing and leads just fits the overall brutality surprisingly well. Some parts are just here to pulverize your necks only to be picked up with Heartwork-era Carcass riffing. Excellent.

Most other bands that do mix one genre with another utterly fail at it because it makes for something that sounds more like a patchwork than some real arrangement of genres. I can only think that each musician wants to have their part played within a song not caring if it will be fitting with the other guy’s idea. Prima-Nocte avoids this and I think that songwriting is something they’re really good at and it’s rather teamwork than putting up bits with other bits to try and make a song. It’s all so well thought it’s mind provoking.

I liked this CD from the start and I don’t think I will tire playing it on future occasions because:
1. It’s that good and there's never that feeling that it's either too melodic/not enough brutal or the other way around.
2. Unfortunately 6 tracks is a bit too short and you’ll feel like another 6 songs would have just been great. Which basically means you’ll find yourself hitting the repeat button quite a few times.

The Netherlands, though a small country in size and population, never stop to amaze me with the quality of Death Metal bands they can come up with. As much as they missed the Heavy Metal train or the Thrash Metal train, they definitely are one of the leading European nations when it comes to Death Metal alongside Poland and Sweden. If you're into Death Metal you know this is just the plain truth, so contact the guys of Prima-Nocte and get your own copy of Trapped Soul Trophy.