Artist: Fessus / Kill The Lord
Country: Austria / Germany
Label: Darkness Shall Rise Productions
Formats: Split LP
Year: 2024
This split LP brings together two new Death Metal acts which Darkness Shall Rise Productions has set its eyes on. Fessus from Austria released their part of this split LP already on a self-released demo tape, which was reissued by the label already earlier last year. Kill The Lord’s side are brand new recordings that weren’t available before and follows up the 2-track demo tape from January 2024. So, regardless of the musical content of this split LP, it is a great gesture of underground spirit to give those two new bands a platform to show their talents.
Fessus stats with their ‘Threshold Of Morbidity’ 3-track demo that was originally released in Autumn of 2023 and got its cassette tape and CD reissue through Darkness Shall Rise half a year later. This demo already has had its separate review and even an interview was published, so for a more comprehensive analysis I refer to that. Yet, those who are into Death Metal with an thoroughly old school and putrid flavor should give this demo a shot. With their sound hanging a bit between Autopsy and Finnish Death Metal, it should especially appeal to those who are delighted by a good serving of “Fetid, Mortiferum, Ossuary, Cerebral Rot and Sedimentum”.
While Fessus are really a bunch of young guys cranking out the music of their musical heroes, Kill The Lord are true veterans in the scene. Kill The Lord might be a new band, but the individual bandmember’s experience harkens back to the 90’s and 00’s in bands like Impending Doom, Charon, Hatespawn and Fall Of Serenity. But fairness dictates that if we were to compare both bands on this split LP, the young lads of Fessus sound more focused and cohesive. The four tracks of ‘Decrowned II: Trinity Ablaze’ go in all directions, making it a little harder to follow. Obviously the band has a penchant for Swedish Death Metal as the buzzing chainsaw guitars are all over the place, but they throw in sufficient melody to keep things a little more interesting than the average Paganizer snoozers. However, it is mainly the vocals that detract somewhat from the entire experience. To me the vocals sound rather dry and flat, but regardless of personal taste especially in the last track it seems that vocalist Andreas Kaufmann (Charon, Hatespawn, ex-Impending Doom) is just experimenting to see what way to actually go; is it growling, hissing or something in between? With the obvious lack of cohesion in the tracks and especially the vocals, I get the feeling that the band wants to move too fast; formed in January 2024 and then coming up with a demo that same month and these four tracks a little later, it comes across to me as if the band should have taken more time to think everything through and polish their ideas properly.
Despite having my reservations on the Kill The Lord-side of this split LP, I still think this release is still very much worth the attention. Not only for the musical side of things and supporting the great Fessus, but maybe even more so because of the underground spirit that it breathes. Perhaps not yet in the same line of quality, but in the past bringing together two demos of two new and upcoming bands was not a weird thing. You might remember the Demigod/Necropsy, Excruciate/Epitaph and Altar/Cartilage split LP’s?
