J-Man Especially over the past few years, I've noticed a resurgence of old school death metal from Finland, and Maveth is one of the newer acts on the scene. Featuring three members from Cryptborn (a band I remember listening to a couple years back) and a host of other extreme metal acts, Maveth's debut is the work of experienced and professional death metal musicians. Coils of the Black Earth was released in 2012 for Dark Descent Records, and like many acts signed to this particular label, the music here bleeds filthy old school death metal. Fans of such a description should take note, and although Maveth could make some improvements next time around, Coils of the Black Earth is an immensely promising debut.

As previously mentioned, Maveth plays a style of death metal that is grimy and old school to the bone. The music here actually reminds me a fair amount of Cryptborn's, albeit more developed and mature - the riffs have a fat and distinctly Swedish tone to them, and the sound production is raw and punishing. Bands like Entombed, Grave, and early Edge of Sanity would be good points of reference, and the dark and twisted sound of Immolation wouldn't make for a bad comparison either. Coils of the Black Earth also features a few touches of black metal in addition to grinding death metal madness, so fans of acts like Behemoth or Belphegor should find plenty to love here too.

Maveth's debut doesn't sound terribly distinct when compared to the hordes of old school death metal acts out there, but they execute the style with a tremendous amount of class and professionalism. The biggest knock I can give this album is that its hour long playing time leads to some monotony in the second half - this is the sort of music best enjoyed in short bursts, in my opinion - though I still will wholeheartedly recommend Coils of the Black Earth to fans of old school death metal.