Artist: Dying Remains
Country: Canada
Label: Maggot Stomp
Formats: Cassette EP
Year: 2023
Although I couldn’t relate much to the positive vibe that was created around Detherous, the Canadian Death/Thrash Metal band, and found their album quite a bit of an underwhelming affair, everything seems different with Dying Remains. The three musicians currently in Detherous’ line-up teamed up with their current live guitarist to form a new old school styled Death Metal band. That band became Dying Remains and now delivers their first offering, a cassette tape released EP through Maggot Stomp.
Just as Detherous borrows from Demolition Hammer but comes up very thinly with it, it won’t surprise you that Dying Remains commits the same act of thieving to Morta Skuld. After all, it seems no coincidence that the music is very similar to that and that the band chooses a name that previously functioned as a song title by Morta Skuld. But well, sure thing is that the music of Dying Remains sounds much more convincing than Detherous, on all possible dimensions. Not only is the sound much crisper and at the very same time heavy as fck, but it most of all it is the far superior song writing that is the most convincing. The riffs are both heavy and crunchy without sounding all too jadedly old school and the dynamics in the music prevents it from getting all too much of a snoozefest. There’s also a special mention for the vocals that are fiercely aggressive and is used as an integral and well-used extension of the instrumentation. Although the EP is rather short, it is clear that the slow and mid-paced riffs and rhythms are the very core of Dying Remains, something that evidenced by the band’s choice to cover Jungle Rot and make that a suitable closer for this debut EP.
Although this is not at all very original and the music is found quite close to that of Morta Skuld, it is very much enjoyable. You just have to love the power of the riff, those slow to mid-paced rhythms are like an earworm that makes you push the play button again. Which is not a bad idea, since it is an EP with a playing time well under 15 minutes – a perfect length, I would say.
