Slain 
Before The Inferno 

The End Of Time Records 2013

Polish death metallers Slain bludgeon you with their debut album of no-frills brutality.  I'll admit, the first time I threw this on my CD player I thought it was boring.  But that's why I always give albums several listens in different environments.  After the next couple of listens the album definitely grew on me.  It has a sound that is neither old school, nor excessively modern.  There are elements of both within those meaty riffs and guttural growls.  Confession Of The Blind Messiah gets the ball rolling and it's riffs are like a hammer to the skull.  The guitars are big and thick and batter you with the chugging rhythms.  There is an accent that drags across the later part of the main riff before the song belts out intense sections of speed.  The ante is raised with Wings Of War.  It picks up the pace and injects even more savagery into the mix.  There are waves of fat grooves and hammering drums that collide with frenzied riffs to create a deadly concoction of brutality.  Interesting and somewhat unique guitar solos warp and scratch through the carnage.  The muscular riffs return with Malleus Maleficarum.  Sawing guitars fly through bones only to encounter some midtempo rumblings.  A really solid US death metal style pulses through the veins of War Is Coming.  It has a chugging main riff and then bursts into blasting segments that hearken back to some of the old Floridian death metal days, but this has a more modern feel.  Fucking Gods is the highlight of the album for me with its charging speed and old Grave-esque grooves.  Bouts of violence erupt in the track's innards and leave the listener battered.  Slain is a death metal band through and through.  They aren't reinventing anything or breaking any new ground, just sticking with a tried and true formula and churning out solid death metal.