siLLy puPPy DEAD REMAINS is one of those metal bands that has been around for decades but hasn’t exactly been proficient and basically unknown outside of its native Germany. Formed in 1991 in the former East German city of Neubrandenberg, this band which started out as Sarcophare released a demo in 1998 before finally unleashing its debut album “Deathless Torture” in 2003. However it would take another eight years to get it together to release this second album CONSCIOUS CREATION.

Like many a band, so too was DEAD REMAINS plagued by incessant lineup changes and the trials and tribulations of maintaining a band without any income supporting it. Lo and behold this determined band was all about cranking out the hardcore death metal in the old school vein and that’s exactly what this album offers. Nothing more and nothing less. This is one of those bands that unfortunately falls into the category of generic as fuck.

With guttural growls erupting in fits of agony, the death metal shtick features all the check the boxes categories of heavy chugging riffs, blastbeats, occasional solos and sick as fuck gory subject matter that you won’t understand a word of as the cookie monster vocals growl on to oblivion. Existing somewhere between the old school steadiness of bands like Cryptosy and Morbid Angel, DEAD REMAINS does add a bit more fuel to the fire with more brutal deliveries in the vein of Suffocation and the legion of imitators that have emerged ever since.

Overall this isn’t a bad album at all but there’s really nothing in here to grab your attention if you’re a diehard death metal fan. While the musicianship is seasoned and downright excellent, the tracks themselves lack any sort of originality and this band unfortunately just blends into the sea of similar sounding bands without any artistic merit whatsoever. Actually this band reminds me a bit of Be’lakor as it is insanely intense and even includes some technical wizardry but in the end just leaves me bored as it all sounds the friggin same.