Ελληνικά
Last Updated on 08:53 PM by Giorgos Tsekas
Genre: Death Metal
Country: Sweden
Label: Century Media Records
Year: 2021
“Death, Madness, Horror, Decay” that follows up “Out Of The Voiceless Grave” (2017) is the sophomore effort for The Lurking Fear, the Lovecraft-themed death metal band created by an illustrious line-up featuring Tomas Lindberg Redant (At The Gates/Disfear) – vocals, Jonas Stålhammar (At The Gates/God Macabre) – guitar, Fredrik Wallenberg (Skitsystem) – guitar, Andreas Axelson (Tormented/Disfear) – bass and Adrian Erlandsson (At The Gates/The Haunted) – drums. As 3/5 of the band are also in At The Gates many will think that this project is similar to the Swedes masters of melodic death. The Lurking Fear though is much too closer to early Entombed.
The dark tone and atmosphere dominates their sound that is rough and eerie. There are few things that have been changed since their debut that came 4 years ago. Lyrically there tons of Lovecraft influences but Lindbergh which is the main composer tried again some Ligotti and Thacker influenced lyrics as he used in the At the Gates last album. The cosmic terror evolved in a more sophisticated or philosophical way you can say. Musically speaking there’s a balance between mid-paced and fast tracks. Also there’s a great effort to sound like a band with their-own identity. Therefore the writing sessions were more of a unified effort this time around, and all the writers in the band are part of more songs. The result is impressive as the album has more variety than its predecessor while keeping the primal instinct and the brutal nature of it.
The old school spirit sounds charming while there also a sense of bulky approaching as if the recording sessions were a kind of a treatment for the band members in order to make them get rid of anxiety or work stress; the lack of a certain motif makes the album less conservative despite the traditional aura that it oozes.
Outstanding moments of a record that is focusing on old school worshippers and fans that love equal ferocity and brutality and much less melody in their LP’s. Outstanding moments like the strange opener “Abyssal Slime” , “In a Thousand Horrors Crowned”, “Funeral Abyss”, the one minute thrasher/crasher “Death Reborn” or the catchy one “One in Flesh” plus a special guest appearance by Chris Reifert (AUTOPSY, ex-DEATH) on vocals for the track “Kaleidoscopic Mutations” makes “Death, Madness, Horror, Decay” a great suggestion for you to buy.
The album’s limited first-pressing Digipak CD edition will include two very special cover versions as bonus tracks: “The Curse”, originally by Slaughter and “Seance”, originally by Possessed.
