Death metal that delivers and throws in a surprise or two
So far for me, 2017 has been a great year for being exposed to bands that I've never heard before but that have been established for a while now. India's Demonic Resurrection is another such instance of this and their fifth album, 'Dashavatar' has really impressed me. DR shows that they can crank out some really quality death metal with the best of them. The riffs are heavy, chunky and in your face while the vocals sound as though they could cause you to cower in fear at their ferocity. What really stands out for me on the album though are the little surprises that DR throws at you. Take the track "Kurma-The Tortoise" for instance. You start out with your typical death metal song that batters and blasts its way through to your face before you are stopped at the edge of a cliff about 3 minutes in and are taken away by breathtaking clean, soaring vocals. The band also make use of native Indian instruments throughout the album, giving it a really worldly feel to it. The concept of the album seems to me to be about the varying forms of Krishna in Hindu mythology. I'm no expert at all and that's just an educated guess but the story that the lyrics create really capture your attention, which is another surprise. Because honestly, when it comes to death metal, we've come to expect gore, horror and offensiveness at every turn. Demonic Resurrection again buck the trend with what is expected in this genre. I've really enjoyed the album since the first listen and have been going back to it since. This one is gonna stick around in my queue for a while.