By Rob Kachluba
Germany’s Lifeless are back with their second release of bone-crushing traditional death metal. Lifeless, along with Revel in Flesh, are leading the way in old school Swedish styled death metal. The guitar tone could have been lifted straight off of Left Hand Path; the big difference in Lifeless is they incorporate an underlying melody in their raw buzzsaw riffage. After a brief intro opener “Godconstruct” is a prime example: a slow melodic buildup sets the pace and then they blast out of the gates with controlled riffing and even some blast beats thrown in. The drumming really propels the song with a killer midsection of machine gun riffing. “Towards Damnation” and “Moribund” follow and do not let off the gas. Honestly, fans of Dismember and Grave would be going apeshit all over this. “Blood for the Gods” slows things down just a bit until it blasts its way out of the gates.
The whole album is full of controlled riffing with a knack for throwing in a great groove without being too modern sounding. I know some diehards may be put off by some of the layered melodies but really this is a true and true sounding old school death metal album that harkens back to the good old days with great looking artwork and solid production in which every instrument can be heard clearly. I have already ordered the diehard vinyl version blue that is limited to 100 copies for myself. Buy or die!
(FDA Rekotz)
