vote
6.5
- Band:
PANDEMIC - Duration: 00:40:00
- Available from: 16/05/2025
- Label:
-
Hammerheart Records
Streaming not yet available
From the depths of an Underground never completely dormant, the pandemics re-emerge with “Darkened devotion”, their sixth full-length, interrupting a record silence along a decade. A return that does not upset the band's path, but fits consistently into the wake of the beginning from the beginning, referring to that European Death Metal Est school that has produced respected formations such as Vader, Krabathor and Hypnos.
Nowadays, someone could find the moniker of the Czech group vaguely unhappy or even stupid, given that the memory of an experience like Covid is still quite fresh in each of us. However, it must also be emphasized that the pandemics have been active since 1995 and that until a few years ago their name was like any other, in one area like the Death Metal.
Coming to the music of this return, “Darkened devotion” does not venture into daring experiments or aims to amaze, limiting himself to consolidating the identity of the group with a slightly more modern production. The disc therefore offers a square and direct death metal, with some sporadic hints groove that today we would also associate with an always current name such as bendered. The return of the guitarist Alex Marek, present in the first works of the band, brings with him a solid and rigorous rhythmic approach, characterized by cold and angular riffs that give a austere atmosphere to work.
In this nine episodes tracklist, the pandemics therefore remain faithful to their vision, without particular concessions to modernity or stylistic renewal, despite the final “Blessed, Blessed Oblivion” Resears a more mechanical and alienating mood than usual.
You can breathe underground by listening to the disc, appreciable perseverance and a real attachment to the cause. Of course, the real class lies elsewhere, so much so that it is not difficult to notice how a couple of pieces we have an extremely telephoned development, but the tracklist as a whole flows quite well, also offering a few pieces immediately interesting – see episodes such as “Nightmare Paradox”, “Heights of Your Fear” or “The Pallor of Detest”, which seem to want to merge the urgency of the old vaders with more martial shades. In general, it is also important to emphasize how the album avoids dragging too much, finishing its race inside a spot on.
Even without particular flicks, “Darkened Devotion” in short, manages to keep attention alive for all its duration, revealing honest work, with a certain executive tension and a great basic consistency. For the most nostalgic, it could represent a welcome return and perhaps even a starting point to rediscover a certain peripheral underground that in the nineties and in the early two thousand was very respected among the major fans.
Daniel D`Amico for SANREMO.FM
