Axis Powers - Marching Towards Destruction

August 12, 2009

Reviewer: Rottenbucher

Buzz saw guitars? Check. Grinding bass? Check. Charred melodies? Check. Swedish Death Metal? Hell yeah. While the band's name may lead you to think they're German, Axis Powers is a group of Swedes severing up a megaton of that country's best export ( if you don't count the bikini team). Comprised of mostly members from the blackened/thrashers Suicidal Winds, Marching Towards Destruction easily follow the paths blazed by Dismember and Entombed.

Opening with a great instrumental, the gears of war roar into high speed with "War of Attrition." The production doesn't have the same dense tones as the genre's founders or current releases, but the rawer, more blackened sound actually adds to the aggression.  The moody and mighty "Outbreak of the Blitz" keeps the typical mid-paced onslaught going, but the band slows down in a few spots for some great sludgy doom-drenched moments. Morbid melodies and even blackened blasts drive "Mankind Dead and Raped." Autopsy is aped on "Slow to Decay" but the band gets crafty with another brilliant burst of melody in key spots. Bellicose brutality ends the album on a high note with "Artillery Pointed West." Great solos and an oppressive crunch make this song the best on the disc.

This album could have been called Like An Ever Flowing Left Hand Path. It's a nice tribute to the early days of the Swedish Death Metal movement. But the fact that the band doesn't break any new ground may not really appeal to some folks, especially since Dismember, Grave and Bloodbath have kept the torch lit. But the injection of blackened movements and the rawer sound may appeal to genre diehards. Fans of those gnarly grinding guitars and walls of morbid metal will enlist with Marching Towards Destruction.

Release Date:  May 2009
Label: Pulverised Records

TRACK LISTING

1. Marching Towards Destruction
    (From San Francisco
    to Stockholm)
2. War of Attrition
3. Brutal War
4. Outbreak of the Blitz
5. Mankind Dead and Raped
6. Slowly to Decay
7. Another Onslaught
8. Forward March
9. Artillery Pointing West

Total playing time: 34:50

*By clicking "Submit" you agree to the following Terms of Use. You agree not to post any material that is obscene, slanderous, or threatening, or that may violate any law of your country of origin or the United States or of international law. Should you wish to restrict viewing of your email address by third parties, you must select "Hide My Email." You agree to indemnify and hold harmless Metal Psalter from any claims, actions, suits, damages, or other costs arising out of any breach of these Terms of Use.

*Comments: