SKULL114

MARTIRIO, Decadencia  (2009, demo)

The skull:
Ooooh, spooky. This skull would look utterly terrifying if it weren’t for the random baby crying for mama in the lower right portion of the artwork. Huh? Also, note the ghostly growth of a skull coming out the skull’s upper left cheek. Again I say, “Huh?” But those fangs are sharp and ready to rip. The foggy haze adds some atmosphere to this frightening/silly scene, and if that skull’s goin’ down, he’s gonna mangle a few baby heads doing it. Apparently.

The music:
If I didn’t have a band picture for reference, I’d say these guys were the sort of modern death/thrash band that takes influence from fourth generation bands like Carnal Forge. You know, Xerox copies of Xerox copies of Xerox copies until the original root is lost. It just has that stock sort of sound to it. It’s very capable stuff, musically, and the vocalist is strong if utterly interchangeable with hundreds of similar others who bark in that Anselmo-meets-Cavalera sorta way. But see, the guys are wearing Metallica and Slayer shirts, so I guess they do have a deeper understanding of thrash’s history than it sounds. Still, there’s really no reason you should seek out Martirio’s seven song demo since there’s so much more easily accessible stuff around that delivers exactly the same sort of thing. Unless you cannot get enough Carnal Forge or something.
— Friar Wagner

4 thoughts on “SKULL114

  1. I wish it to known that Friar Wagner does not speak for me, or for the Council, in so vilely slandering one of Sweden’s greatest bands, Darkane. What he said about Dew Scented and Carnal Forge is true, though. Especially Carnal Forge.

  2. I have taken Darkane out, that was messy and not well-considered. I had skull fatigue when confronted with this particular band.

  3. I am not normally one to second guess the judgement of the Friars, however I am disappointed that the original text has been altered. Now we are all left to wonder what misguided statements the Friar made about Darkane.

    At least we can all agree that Carnal Forge is terrible.

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