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Masachist

Scorned

Written by: MST on 04/12/2012 19:57:27

Like old school Swedish death metal, Polish death metal has been a subgenre of its own for a long time, due to the number of quality death metal bands coming from the country that all share similar traits. Bands like Decapitated, Behemoth, Vader and Hate have all released high quality records that have a distinct sound, but if you were to pick similar bands for one of them you would probably pick the other three. Masachist aren't just another Polish death metal band though; what we have here is more like a supergroup of musicians who have all previously been a part of the Polish metal scene, with guitarist Arkadiusz "Aro" Jablonski being the only member not previously affiliated with a succesful Polish metal band. The rest of the band can put Vesania, Azarath, Vader, Yattering and Decapitated, among others, on their joint resumes.

The first time I put the album on, I was immediately puzzled by album opener "Drilling the Nerves". Having previously listened to the band's debut album "Death March Fury" a lot, I was expecting blasting drums and furiously brutal Polish riffs. But the album opener is a slow track that tries to conjure up at dark atmosphere with bleak synthesizers, but all it does is get me confused as to what the hell is going on. But all is forgiven as "The Process of Elimination" follows with should have been the opening track: blasting drums, technical riffing with that trademark Polish death metal sound and Wojciech "Sauron" Wąsowicz's brutal growls known from Decapitated's first three legendary records. It is consistently brutal, fast and catchy - more or less a blueprint of excellent Polish death metal.

Sadly though, with the exception of "Manifesto (100% D.M.K.M)" and possibly the longer, slightly progressive closing track "Inner Void", the rest of the album sounds uninspired and lacks the nerve so brilliantly displayed in "The Process of Elimination". To call any of the other songs decidedly bad would be wrong, but they're incredibly standard and fail to surprise in any possible way, leaving me with the lasting impression from repeated listens that "Scorned" contained a few good tracks and lots of filler. Masachist have the ability, experience and possibility to write killer Polish death metal tunes, but I think it's safe to say that "Scorned" won't be their rise to fame.

Download: The Process of Elimination, Manifesto (100% D.M.K.M), Inner Void
For The Fans Of: Decapitated, Behemoth, Vader, Hate
Listen: Bandcamp

Release date: 03.09.2012
Selfmadegod Records