Megascavenger - _Descent Of Yoggoth_
(Selfmadegod Records, 2013)
by: Chaim Drishner (7 out of 10)
Megascavenger are a Swedish duo playing some mid-era, old-school death metal in the Benediction vein. More accurately, in the _Organised Chaos_ era Benediction vein, that is to say unspectacular and not very sophisticated death metal that is well written and heavy as fuck, with a dark, martial edge to it and an obliterating atmosphere.

Oscillating between the death and doom/death aesthetics, Megascavenger's vitriol is of the melodic type, although not the 'melodic death metal' kind but a more sinister and malignant form of melody, one that lurks behind the walls of hostility, barren and fetid and murky yet quintessentially euphonious.

The vocals are the backbone of the album, and those range between the aforementioned Benediction's Dave Ingram's half-intelligible brutish growls, to the more 'vomiting' kind of vocals, which have been popular in the Swedish scene in its infancy, that is to say old Therion and Carbonized kind of belches.

The short and sweet songs are quite engaging, and to some extent even versatile, offering some intricate moments alongside the bread-and-butter of unrefined mid-paced death metal, but at all times the music keeps a formidable, authentic dynamic characteristic that corresponds well to the massive music on display and the quasi-progressive maneuvers, resulting in an enjoyable, gigantic death metal sound that has a lot of stuff going on between its pages; no filler material, no preludes or interludes, no genuine passages, just a pounding, sterile, monstrous death metal album that's fun to listen to as much as it is hostile and malevolent.

Bass and riff driven, the latter are repetitive yet interestingly so, while the former is all-encompassing and charismatic, coloring everything with dissonant, shattering resonance. The production is churning and meaty with a very sharp exhibition of all instruments thrown into the mix, bringing forth muddy yet clear and warm, distortion-heavy tunes of doom and headbanging darkness.

_Descent of Yuggoth_ is a well crafted metal of death, air-tightly written and performed, with enough robust an ambiance to dub it as 'atmospheric'; and although Megascavenger haven't, by any means, re-invented the wheel, they sure have perfected it so that their engine of destruction will run smoothly and for a very long distance, streamlined for an epic death experience.

Contact: http://selfmadegod.com/

(article published 3/4/2014)


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