UMUR "Dark Revival" is the debut demo by Greek death metal act Resurgency. The demo was released on the 10th of September 2010. I found the demo for free legal download on the Death Metal Invasion website.

The 13:35 minute long demo consists of four tracks. The first three tracks features vocals while the last track "Outro (Atmosphere In Chaos)" is an instrumental. It´s very much in the same vein as the rest of the tracks though. Just without the vocals.

The music on the demo is old school death metal. From the first time I listened to the demo the music reminded me of the music by another death metal act but I couldn´t put my finger on who it was. After listening to "Dark Revival" quite a few times before writing this review, the penny dropped though. Let´s just say these guys aren´t strangers to "Mindloss (1991)" by Gorefest. Fortunately Resurgency play this style of death metal with lots of conviction, so that somewhat makes it up for the lack of originality. The band are very well playing, the growls are pretty good ( a bit too indecipherable for my taste, but still pretty good), the production is powerful and actually professional sounding and the songwriting is effective.

So all in all I´d say "Dark Revival" is a very succesful death metal demo by Resurgency. The guys show what they are made of, and while I could wish for a bit more original songwriting approach in the future, we´re talking details. There is after all a limit to what you can do to old school death metal without compromising integrity. Most people who listen to this style don´t want unneccessary technical playing, scale shredding or odd rythm patterns. They want simple brutality and catchy riffs and in that department Resurgency more than delivers. A 3 - 3.5 star rating is deserved.

J-Man Hailing from Athens, death metal quintet Resurgency offers a promising and enjoyable debut demo with Dark Revival. Though not shining in originality and uniqueness, calling this anything less than a strong effort would be cutting Resurgency short. What they've created here is a captivating, diverse, and irresistible death metal affair that happens to suffer from a few genre clichés. Dark Revival isn't something that will strike you in the head with its originality, but it offers an extremely promising start for Resurgency. Although the death metal scene is overflowing with acts like Resurgency, the talent of the musicians and quality of the compositions should guarantee a bright future for the band. Although Dark Revival is far from essential, it's a solid debut demo that should appeal to fans of the genre. In addition to that, the demo is available for a free legal download, so it's hard to not recommend giving it shot.

The music here is death metal played in an old school style. There are a few technical edges in the vein of Suffocation, but they aren't frequent. Most of the demo is a cross between Deicide, Death, Morbid Angel, and even a tad of early Edge of Sanity (Nothing but Death Remains-era). As such, this isn't a new concept, but Resurgency delivers the sound in a professional and respectable manner. At only 13 and a half minutes spread out through 4 songs, there isn't much room for filler. Every song delivers crushing death metal, and the closing track, "Outro (Atmosphere in Chaos)" is an interesting instrumental with nice use of synths. The musicians are great across the board, and I especially have to applaud the vocals from John P. Many underground death metal vocalists sound pretty uninspired and weak, but he has a commanding and powerful style that sounds wonderful to these ears. The instrumentalists collaborate as a tight-playing and precise unit that also sounds terrific. For a demo (or any release, for that matter), Dark Revival sounds great. It's hard to believe that it was self-produced. One of the best things about this release is the unquestionable quality of the delivery in general, which distances Resurgency from the crowd of mediocre underground death metal acts.

Although Dark Revival isn't something too out of the ordinary, it's an enjoyable death metal demo that deserves a solid 3 stars. Resurgency is undoubtedly a promising act - let's hope they have a label backing them for their future releases. Free legal downloads like this are easy to recommend because of the possibility of liking it, but if not, you haven't wasted any hard-earned cash. I have a feeling that most extreme metal fans will enjoy this one anyway, regardless of price tag.

The Block Where despair dominates

Resurgency is a reletively new death metal act from Greece, just forming in 2009. This is their first demo, and it's not that bad. The only thing though, is that to me it seems like a complete Edge of Sanity rip off. Resurgency's George N. and Gearge K. almost completely copied the style of Edge of Sanity's guitarist Andreas Axelsson. I knew as soon as I started to listen to them that they sounded similar, and now I know why. But, except for the fact that they aren't original at all, they are pretty good.

The best song on the demo, "Where Despair Dominates", has some very good bass riffs and drumming. The vocalist, John P., has a really good growl, that I enjoy. John P.'s growling really fits in with the dark heavy bass and guitar lines, creating a good sound. Resurgency definitely has a good future if they could find their own unique sound because they have pretty decent musicians in the band. For Resugency's non unique, but promising debut demo they get 2.5 stars.