Label: Night Terrors Records
Date: November 1st, 2024
Just like I mentioned in my last review, Germany has huge and contrary to Belgium where the number of bands was always quite big, but outside their own country they always were and still are in most cases anonymous, at the same time very prominent metal scene. And I deeply doubt I need to convince anybody about that by listing the never-ending number of names here, speaking around what meaning for the worldwide scene they had and still have and stuff. We all know these hordes and their great contribution to the evolution of the genre of music we love the most! And the best is there’re still creating new acts presenting well quality. One of them was born in the year Covid-19 were the most active in visiting all countries around the world. That’s why Putridarium has begun real activity in 2021 which resulted with releasing the demo “Putrefuction’21” Polish (and not only) Independence Day, November 11th. Since then, the guys haven’t slowed down, creative inspiration doesn’t leave them and release at least one stuff every year. Until now, there were only demos and splits and finally on November 1st we’ll be able to enjoy their debut album.
And I didn’t use the word “enjoy” by accident! I mean that’s not any rhetorical figure or something like that. I really enjoy all ten songs and am even sure you’ll do the same. However, there’s one condition you must meet – as always in case of any music creature. This condition is about liking death with some touches of doom metal as well. Residents of Marburg, Hesse present the kind of creativity I do not often have the opportunity to hear. What does it mean? Well, it isn’t too much inspired by bands who come first on the mind when you think about the genre. Instead, I’d compare it with one of Chicago’s metal scene legends who was found 1988, is still active, even if the last release saw the light of the day 2019. and its debut full-length called “The Dying Truth” (1992). But I somehow afraid not too many people outside Illinois, the States or maybe even North America in general know, unfortunately in my opinion (!), ensemble I just mentioned (of course, what’s probably my trademark, indirectly), so I think I need to describe creativity of Germans a little closer to let you know what you should expect from Putridarium.
So, let’s go! Well, to be honest I should write this is doom with elements of death metal, even if in some songs guys run quite fast and then you say I shit when I write about Doom touches. But they’re also other tracks where slow, somehow even funeral playing dominates completely. Anyways, even in these more death metal songs you can with no huge problems recognize here and there sub-genre of our beloved music I mentioned twice in the very first sentence of this paragraph. Especially that most of the riffs, guitar tuning, drumming and even vocalization are more about this genre than any other one. It feels the whole time, even in these faster parts (they don’t happen too often and are short ones at the most). That’s one more reason why I treat Putridarium as the first doom metal horde. Music is crushing everything away with its weight. At the same time, it’s not what I could call a typical road roller. I mean, even if the tempo is slow mostly there really happens a lot here and even some little cacophonous guitar tricks you can notice. It’s the same with bass and of course drums. To make it short, you can hear during the listening that guys think a lot and try to make their music interesting, what they do. Well, you shouldn’t be surprised because of that at all. The formation is a young one, but they play quite experienced musicians.
Some curiosity can be that our German friends recorded this album live, what experienced ear will hear quite clearly. To people who don’t yet have such a sensitive organ of hearing I’ll reveal it’s mainly about sound. In any case if you’re a fan of such creativity, there’s no reason to not spend some euros on a cassette or CD (of course a digital version is also available, if you wish to buy this one and not a physical copy)! Contact the band or Night Terrors Records to do it.
