Hey, I’m listening to metal again! It’s still
not my thing. Oddly, my “great guitar bands” listening today was Slayer, and I
like Deathember much more than Slayer. This may mean that I prefer groove metal
to thrash metal. That sounds plausible.
Deathember is a groove metal band from
Huddinge Sweden. They followed me on Twitter and so I followed back. Their
metal does have lots of loud growling vocals, but they do, in fact, groove. I
have to give them credit for that. The guitar playing is top notch.
You can’t do lengthy descriptions on Twitter,
but a lot of bands will link to their personal page, or at least a Facebook,
because that will link to everything else. Although Deathember does have a
Facebook, the Twitter account only leads to their Youtube channel.
That seems inefficient, but it might be
strategic. I found that I liked the band more after seeing them. There is a lot
of raw power in the sound, but there is extra appeal in the visual. It must be
charisma.
It would probably still be good of them to do
a better job of marketing. They do have tracks available on Amazon, but their
Facebook page only mentions Big Cartel, and it doesn’t mention that they are on
Soundcloud and Spotify. So, that’s something for them to think about.
The reason I mention that metal is not really
my thing is that I know a lot less about it, and I can’t write about it from as
informed a point of view. Therefore, I am probably not doing the band justice,
but I am going to try.
“Quietly” is my favorite of the videos. No,
there is nothing quiet about the song. It has an intersting texture, though,
and a complexity of tempo that carries a real feeling with it. It’s not necessarily
that it’s not angry, but there seems to be more to it than that. Maybe it’s complexity
of feeling too. This may be my favorite for vocals.
“Scapegoat” is a little more typical of what
you expect from metal, but one thing I noticed on it is that the percussion is
really effective. On the other hand, the guitars probably shine the most in
“There’s Nothing Called Equality”, which has a really compelling energy to it.
Ultimately, they all have to work together.
It is the fusion of the drums, the guitars, and the vocals that gives
Deathember their sound. However, if you listen to those three tracks, I think
you get a good overview of their abilities.
You should also check out “The Linear Act”. I
feel like the intro here is really kind of majestic. “Define Hate” reminded me of
Master of Puppets-era Metallica.
Anyway, those are my
general impressions. I know Sweden is known for hard and twisted metal, but
that was not the feeling here. Start out at Youtube and check the videos, and
then take it from there.
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