Dødning

Dødning EP

Written by: PP on 03/02/2009 11:11:32

Dødning are a groovy Danish metal/hardcore band that I first discovered during the second edition of the Scream Festival somewhere in an obscure Northern Sealand city about 50km off from Copenhagen. My first impression of the band wasn't that impressive, as they mostly reminded me of Maylene & The Sons Of Disaster through their heavy, dense, and most of all, groovy guitar sound, but that's probably because it's difficult to become friends with such a muddy sound definition when hearing it live for the first time. Anyway, the band has now put together a new self-titled EP in time for their 2009 tour dates, and I have to say that my second impression of these guys is much better, although they still remind me of Maylene above anything else.

After the three minute opener titled simply as "Intro", the groove-aspect of their sound is brought into serious spotlight through "Cut Throat City". Now the song wouldn't be that special if it wasn't for their vocalist's fantastic ability to convey raw emotion and passion through the "We are the kill... RAUHHRRRR" screams, where he sounds like a pissed off animal just escaped from a cage or something. The "RAUHRRR" parts alone gives the song a shitload of attitude and instantly makes it more interesting than it would be without them. Both the bass and guitar are tuned unusually low here to create as dense sound as possible; I have to admit it's rather difficult to become friends with that type of sound simply because it sounds so muddy, raw and unproduced upon initial listens. Basically, think Maylene & The Sons Of Disaster-type southern fried groove, only much denser and heavier. It's as if there's a 70s rock n roll vibe blended together with the urgency of a hardcore band and the attitude of Every Time I Die.

"Tonight We Ride" is a great song to pop on while driving on the open road, which, for some reason, reminds me of a groovier version of the Eve 6 classic "Open Road Song". The sound's as muscular and groovy (have I mentioned that yet?) as ever here, and it really makes you want to floor the pedal on a hot summer day, trust me on this one. "So Many Drugs, So Little Time" is probably the least impressive song on the record, as it merely continues to push more and more groove on us without really getting anywhere, but then again, it leads up to the EP's centerpiece, the 10 minute mammoth "Dogs Of War", which the band has overloaded with all the elements from the rest of the EP and then extended it a good three or four times longer. There's a long instrumental introduction in the vein of "Intro" here that's played out slowly before the band emerges into some spoken-word type clean vocals. The song's progression is like from textbook progressive rock of the 70s, with the sound becoming louder and more instruments being added as time passes by, with a truckload of soloing being the focus of the last four or so minutes of the track. It's a pretty cool way to finish off the five-track EP, but it lacks the same punch as "Cut Throat City" and thus leaves me a bit cold in the end.

So although the southern fried groove is a type of sound I've never particularly managed to become friends with, Dødning have managed to pull me somewhat closer towards the genre. They sound like Maylene & The Sons Of Disaster with an extra weight on the groove/denseness of the guitars, except Dødning isn't nearly as catchy or instantly recognizable as those guys are. If they manage to write more songs like "Cut Throat City" and "Tonight We Ride" in the future, then we'll have another outfit to send on international waters to promote the talent found in the Danish scene. For now, "Dødning EP" merely contains two tracks of awesome groove/scream combo, and two tracks of average groove/scream combo (intro not included here), so if the southern groove is something you look for in your music, check out at least the first two tracks from this EP.

Download: Cut Throat City, Tonight We Ride
For the fans of: Maylene & The Sons Of Disaster, Every Time I Die, He Is Legend
Listen: Myspace

Release date 23.01.2009
UNSIGNED BAND

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