Time Signature Tomb desecrator...

Genre: death metal

Of Carrion and Pestilence is the debut album from Spanish deathsters Mass Burial. The band name, the logo, and the cover artwork all spell old school death metal.

And old school death metal is exactly what Mass Burial deliver on this album. Making use of primitive, but compelling, riffage – some of which has a thrashy quality to it, the Spaniards really takes the listener on a journey back in time to the early 90s when primitive and raw death metal was in its heyday. Even the performance is just as organic and dynamic as in the good old days with chaotic guitar solos and not-too-guttural growls and all that business.

Production-wise, the album has a very dark quality to it, and the guitars are brutally distorted. The almost crust-like guitar sound is not unlike the raw and dirty Stockholm-sound that characterized early Swedish death metal . This should appeal to fans of old school authentic extreme metal, but a consequence can also be that, even for seasoned fans of the genre, it will take a couple of spins to atune one's ear from the pristine productions of today to the raw production of this album.

Of Carrion and Pestilence is old school in every sense of the word, and any fan of early extreme metal should definitely give this slab of primitive brutality a listen.

(review originally posted at seaoftranquility.org)