Today, death metal duo Altered Dead premiere the new track
"Thawing in Agony" at heavily trafficked web-portal
NoCleanSinging.com . The track is
the third to be revealed from the band's highly anticipated second album, Returned to Life, set for international release on January 25th via Memento Mori. Hear Altered Dead's "Thawing in Agony" in its entirety exclusively
HERE .
With beginnings in 2011, Canada's Altered Dead are a two-piece contributing to the tradition of early death metal with a simple and therefore genuine approach: no frills, filthy, and raw, proudly influenced by the likes of Autopsy, Death Breath, Grave, Asphyx, Darkthrone, Unleashed, Exhumed, and Carnage. Released in 2016, Altered Dead's debut album, simply self-titled, was a cornucopia of darkness and utter DEATH. Twisted 'n' gross riffs ripped alongside warring treads of percussion, with the accompaniment of scalded and bellowing dual vocals mangling the listener's mind. Similarly, lyrical themes revolved around physical and mental warfare, mutating human nature, and imminent conflict and collapse. Currently residing in Esquimalt, on southern Vancouver Island, the duo have had numerous live performances and subsequently started work on their long-awaited second full-length.
At last it arrives, bearing the ever-fitting title Returned to Life. Be forewarned, though, as there's no "life metal" here - only utter DEATH, once again, and darkness eternal, of course. The strikingly sick 'n' psychedelic cover art by Matt Sidney should give some clues as to where Altered Dead are coming from here: tendrils of slimy 'n' viscous riffage rising from the muck to ensnare martial mid-tempo gallops and frequent detours into doomed-out despair. The sum effect is infinitely headbanging as it is scabrously sewer-dredging, but rest assured that Altered Dead place a premium on stridently classic songwriting as their aforementioned forebears did at the dawn of the '90s: HOOKS, line, and sinking...into the primordial abyss! Thus, Returned to Life is both backwards-looking as well as inward-looking - as in inward into that very same abyss. And, it also bears re-emphasizing that Altered Dead are a duo; however, for only two people, the band create a world-eating sound far larger than their pared-down membership may convey on paper. Credit due to Loïc Fontaine for his clear 'n' crushing mastering job at Krucyator Studio, France.
Closing with a faithful cover of Celtic Frost's "Into the Crypts of Rays," Altered Dead deliver traditional death metal perfection with Returned to Life.
Hear the next sounds of that perfection with the brand-new track "Thawing in Agony" exclusively
HERE , courtesy of NoCleanSinging.com. Hear the first sounds of the perfection with the previously revealed "Prosodemic Realms" exclusively
HERE , courtesy of MetalBite.com, as well as the previously revealed title track "Returned to Life"
HERE at Memento Mori's official YouTube channel. Aforementioned cover art and tracklisting are as follows: