bartosso Old-school never gets... old?

There's something about the death metal formula that makes it timeless, impervious to trend shifts and the passage of time. Sure, the genre as a whole has evolved quite a bit throughout the years and the very thought of naming all the branches of that big-ass tree makes me squint with my left eye. But hey, no need for post-progressive-technical death metal when there's enough stylistic diversity in old-school American and European death metal to get inspiration from. That's exactly what No Salvation are about. And they nailed that premise to a fucking cross.

Defiling Verses draws inspiration from an impressive array of death metal landmarks and the more I listen to this short LP, the longer the list of those little nods of appreciation is getting. So, let's point out just a few of them. On one hand, an underlying, classic vibe of Death's Leprosy and Morbid Angel's Altars of Madness is immediately noticeable. On the other hand, its more modern and groovy character makes certain passages of Defiling Verses reminiscent of late Bolt Thrower and some more ominously discordant ones (tremolo warning!), of Deicide and Immolation. Let's not forget the elephant in the room, though, Behemoth. While Behemoth themselves are a fairly "recent" guest to the death metal scene, they've managed to carve out an impressive niche with their blackened sound. No Salvation, while much more old-school in their approach to the genre, are clearly infatuated with the Pomeranian satanists ("Coroner's Friend", "Niosący Światło").

All in all, competent songwriting, solid musicianship and some left hooks here and there (that freaking phaser at the end of "Veritas Obscura"!) make me like No Salvation more than I initially thought I would. It's a band that pays homage to their idols without losing track of what made death metal immortal in the first place. And I don't necessarily mean Chuck Schuldiner's death. Get it? Nevermind, I'll see myself out.