Soul Demise - In Vain
Season Of Mist
Death Metal (Swedish Style)
11 songs (40:46)
Release year: 2003
Soul Demise, Season Of Mist
Reviewed by Crims

This is the second release from Germany’s Soul Demise, and an impressive release it is. Those of you tired with the US based Death Metal sound (i.e. Cannibal Corpse, Deicide), here is a breath of fresh air for you. Despite being from Germany, Soul Demise take the classic Swedish Death sound and add a lot of brutality.

Those of you familiar with Dismember and to a lesser extent, pre-SOTS At The Gates should have a good idea as to what Soul Demise sound like. Yes, the bands (especially on Dismember’s Death Metal release) are quite similar. However, there are some differences too so you can expect some new touches as well. The most obvious aspect of Soul Demise’s sound is the production. Unlike, the heavy and thick approach of say, Bloodbath, we have a sound that while still being heavy, is more raw and distorted, with the same kind of buzz-saw like tone on the guitars that can be found on most of Dismember’s work. Right away, this gives the band a noticeably different feel than most Death Metal bands. Also, the vocals are very dynamic. You basically have two distinct styles: one is more of a growl, but it’s not the Corpsegrinder or Chris Barnes style, it’s more along the lines of most Melodic Death bands like Dark Tranquillity or Gates Of Ishtar; the other style vaguely sounds like Tomas Lindberg from At The Gates. In short, the key point here is that the tone and style is always changing, though the vocals are always harsh with the exception of some spoken word that pops up once or twice. As opposed to just being there, the frantic nature of the vocals give a sense of immediacy to the music, which lends itself to being more intense than if the vocals were a laid back, simple, deep growl. The guitars are also quite dynamic, as there seems to be a healthy mix of riffing styles. Some sections are quite thrashy (some consider Soul Demise to be a Death/Thrash band), others are more Dismember-ish, and I even hear some Amon Amarth occasionally, believe it or not. Thus, each song contains quite a few fast change-ups; you never really expect them and they can happen at a moments notice, but they are so subtle that the overall song still flows very well. I feel the last aspect is best personified with Eventually We Will Die and Naive. Soul Demise also offers us a touch of melody contained in some riffs and leads. You don’t really notice it right away, but after a wall of brutality is presented, one would not expect to hear a melodic riff, but that’s the kind of thing Soul Demise does. However, when I say melody, don’t think of In Flames or Dark Tranquillty, think of that melodic brutality in a band like, once again, Dismember or At The Gates.

As eluded to, the song writing is very strong as Soul Demise maliciously craft their brand of Death Metal, with slight thrash leanings. The music is always intense, which while being lead forth by the guitars and vocals, the drumming and bass also have a say. The percussion is really all over the place. There aren’t a lot of blast beats here, but when they are used, they work very well. Instead, the drumming style is reminiscent of (yup, you guessed it), Dismember and At The Gates. There is a ton of double bass, but also a lot of Thrash styled bass/snare patterns. There are a lot of fills and breakdowns as well, and the patterns seem to constantly be changing, sometimes in conjunction with the guitars, and other times on their own. From my description you might think that Soul Demise is a Technical Death Metal band with all these changeups and dynamics, however, this is not the case. Granted, Soul Demise is very far from simple, but there aren’t really any progressive elements or build-up, as most technical Death Metal bands have, because as I stated, Soul Demise almost never slow down. This CD is truly one of those situations where your neck is wrung from beginning to end. The only “break” in the proceedings is Darkness Within; this track is an instrumental (with 5 seconds of spoken word… so is it still a instrumental?) that features a very melodic lead that would not feel out of place in older Soilwork.

Overall I was very impressed with this release. I originally picked this CD to review because I had never heard of Soul Demise (shame on me) before, and I was hoping it would be some generic and boring Death or Black Metal so that I could finally do another less than positive review, but In Vain quickly grew on me and eventually worked its way up, very fast mind you, to an impressive score. Of course, this CD is outstanding, but going by our ratings scale, In Vain isn’t quite legendary, as we say. It crosses that barrier often, but not enough to get a plus 90 score. Regardless though, this is my surprise of the year so far (right in front of Ritual Carnage) and is highly recommended to whomever likes Death Metal with a touch of melody, but Death Metal that still remains brutal, with some bonus points for Thrash riffs.

Killing Songs :
Everything, there is no filler, but Naive, Cancer, and Eventually We Will Die are my favorites.
Crims quoted 87 / 100
Jay quoted 85 / 100
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