Time Signature It's raining napalm...

Genre: death metal

The wonderfully aptly titled Death, Doom, Radiation is Finnish death-metallers Sadistik Forest's second album, and, as we all know, the sophomore effort can often be somewhat of a challenge. Well, with their deathgrind-informed old school brand of death metal, Sadistik Forest have definitely risen to the challenge and successfully beaten it.

We are dealing with old school death metal with all the virtues of the genre, such as crunching riffs combined with furious one-string tremolo picking and chaotic guitar solos, some of which emphasize whammy bar madness. So, on that account, there should be plenty of goodies for the fan of that branch of death metal. Not unlike Bolt Thrower when they transitioned from a sloppy grind band to a more tight death metal band, Sadistik Forest insert plenty of grind passages with blastbeats into their songs, and thus Death, Doom, Radiation is comparable to classics like Warmaster and Realm of Chaos in terms of style and expressive aesthetics – however, the degree pf musicianship is much higher on Death, Doom, Radiation than on the two Bolt Thrower classics.

While the primary mode of expression can be described with the word "brutality", there is a strange sort of melodicism to be heard on the album, but it actually suits the overall sound quite well and makes the brutal elements seem even more brutal. It also adds further authenticity to their old school approach.

Musically, this is a great death metal album, and I am sure that a lot of people will like the vocals. I must admit that I have not been able to appreciate the vocals on this album. The praimary vocal style is an extremely deep and guttural growling, which is accompanied by some screams every now and then. The screams are alright, actually, and I think they suit the aggressive and brutal feel of the album, but the growled vocals are on the verge of being burpy, and , to be honest, I find them incredibly monotonous and, at times, disturbing to the listening experience. That being said, I am sure that a lot of people will actually like this vocal technique, so, if you like extremely guttural growls, then this should be your cup of tea.

Death, Doom, Radiation is musically a very strong death metal album which has a lot to offer. Fans of early Bolt Thrower might specifically take an interest in it, but it should also have a broader appeal among fans of death metal in general.

(review originally posted at seaoftranquility.org)