According
to Merriam-Webster Dictionary the
term "cliché" means: "(1):
a trite phrase or expression; also:
the idea expressed by it (2): a hackneyed
theme, characterization, or situation
(3): something (as a menu item) that
has become overly familiar or commonplace".
In a sense “cliché” is
easy to identify. So if you have
a band that releases their second
album and in the press announcement
you read the terms "demonical", "Hellsworn", "infernal", "sin", "darkness", “spawned" and
so on, and then you take a look at
the cover and you see skulls, horns,
inverted crosses and scythes, what
do you expect? Nothing else than
uncompromising death metal. "Hellsworn" is
the second album of old-school deathsters
Demonical, which features old members
of Centinex, Grave, Regurgitate,
Interment, Amaran, World Below and
Dellamorte. So with credential like
these you can only have pure Swedish
death metal, sort of a mixture of
Dismember, Grave, old-Entombed and
Unleashed. The album is packed in
an astonishing production, which
crushes everything, like a sonic
bulldozer, and the band has paid
tribute to all stereotypes of the
genre. B-movie samples, acoustic
intros, melodic passages, slow and
doomy breakdowns, but above all unrelenting
rhythm section, frenzy soloing, sharp
and swirling riffs and what else...
hellish vocals. Though many give
a negative interpretation to the
term - occasionally I am giving it
too - the above entry doesn't relate
"cliché" it
to anything negative. And frankly
there is nothing that will make you
turn away from this release. "Hellsworn" is
a decent death metal release destined
not to innovate (we don't need any
more "innovation", we have
plenty of that) but to delight the
fans. |
