Review: Miasmal – Cursed Redeemer (Century Media 2014 LP)

 One of the LP's that has been played most frequently the last month is this second album by the Gothenburg death metallers. It's their first release not being self titled, as far as I know. I almost expected it to be named Miasmal II or something, but apparently they were clever enough to come up with another album title this time. The formula is basically the same as on the first album, rough, powerful and uncompromising death metal. The title track is opening just as convincing as Mesmerized did, the mid-tempo mangel in Excelsior is just as crushing as Death Mask, both albums contains eight songs and the playing time differs by only about 20 seconds. So Miasmal II might be just what it is, in one way. Why changing a winning concept?

 

 Even though some melodies are sneaked in every now and then, it is far from the so called “Gothenburg-sound” (despite their geographical origin). The proportion of melodies used is way more comparable to Dismember, which comes to mind more than any other band while listening to this. In the absence of the masters of death who nowadays are buried, yet not forgotten, Miasmal is an excellent substitute. I was just going to add something like “ their sound is still original though”, but I'll pass since those statements are too watered down. I'll leave that to all the labels out there promoting their shitty bands instead. Miasmal plays death metal, and they're doing it very well. 8/10 /H