REPRESS OF THIS CLASSICK OF THE BRUTAL DEATH SCENE INCLUDING BONUS TRACKS TAKEN FROM FERVOUR OF THE IMPURE DEMO
The tag "brutal death metal" has lost a lot of it's meaning these last years. There's a whole legion of uninspired acts following the same formula of blast-slam-blast-slam-really-slow-slam accompanied by generic, soulless, utterly plastic sounding production. That stuff isn't so much brutal as it is yawn inspiring, the death metal version of stirring a pot of thick soup. Where did it go wrong? Or am I just becoming one of those old farts who like to go around telling all the kiddies how it was all better in the past? Time to pull out one of those brutal oldies and convince myself that it's the children who are wrong, Principal Skinner style.
Fermento is probably one of Spain's oldest death metal acts and they sound exactly as you would imagine after seeing a picture of main man Roberto. This is basically the aural equivalent of a bulldozer about to go over your head. Guitars are tuned all the way down to the floor with guttural vocals galore, it sounds as heavy as fuck and it oozes aggression from the get-go. In sound they are more akin to US death metal/grindcore bands of the time such as Mortician, Hemdale or Sintury, but in song structures they follow a more traditional path. The way the songs are constructed is more rooted in old school death metal, think of early works of Grave, Massacre and Deicide. The band incorporates a lot more slower parts amidst the furious blasting, providing needed variation. The riffing has a feel that reminds me of early Sodom and Kreator, making for a nice familiar feeling throughout the album. It's sturdy, honest, no frills death metal, sure to please the old school brutal deathbanger. However...
After a few repeated listens I have to conclude that it starts to sound a tad boring. In part this is because the overall sound is pretty monotonous and, also, the slower parts aren't always that interesting. Some more emphasis on velocity would have been a plus here. Mind you, I'm not saying that this is a bad performance, I'm just stuck with the feeling there was more in the can here.
So, in a nutshell, it's a heavy and brutal album by a band firmly rooted in old school aesthetics, unfortunately the precision of their attack is somewhat blunted by it's production and sometimes lackluster slow sections. Basically it's the perfect album to put on every once in a while, when you don't know what to shove into your cd player.
Oh, and by the way, it IS the kids who are wrong, hehe.
Sample:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nvrTy7PIxfI&t=105s
